Three Summers – Três Verões (2019)

Directed by: Sandra Kogut | 94 minutes | drama | Actors: Regina Casé, Rogério Fróes, Gisele Fróes, Jéssica Ellen, Alli Willow, Otávio Müller, Saulo Arcoverde, Edmilson Barros, Charles Fricks, Carolina Pismel, Daniel Rangel, Carla Ribas, Glicério Rosário

Every December, somewhere between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Edgar and Marta hold a grand family celebration at their luxurious beach house on the Brazilian coast. No expense or effort is spared. Only the most exquisite food should be served. The best drink deserves to be served. And only the most expensive art is worth getting a place on the walls.

Housekeeper Madá sees it as an observing outsider with the necessary humor. She faithfully does what is asked of her, but behind the scenes her caustic comments on her bosses are not exactly nice. Yet the differences between the rich employers and the staff seem smaller than expected, as we follow the characters during three Brazilian summers.

The first summer, it is then 2015, life unfolds in all its glory for the wealthy Edgar and Marta. Their party is a great success. Dozens of family members and friends can enjoy their wealth. Madá is not doing bad business either. Her illegal food business gives a nice side income. Her dreams for her own kiosk are steadily becoming reality. Nothing can stand in the way of that dream of the future. However, that dark clouds are gathering over the villa is apparent when Edgar repeatedly receives strange phone calls.

The sender of those calls remains unknown. The viewer only sees the reaction of the receiver. The one-way street betrays discomfort. The staff is also starting to suspect something is wrong. Their good life parallels that of their employers. Any hindrance their bosses experience means bad news. But it’s not clear what exactly is going on. Only Edgar’s old father, recently widowed, has his suspicions. But his grief stands in the way of any interference.

A year later, 2016, the turnips are done. The far-reaching urge for more pomp and circumstance has taken its toll. Also for Mada. Now that the life of the past has had its day, the future has also lost its luster. Still, the housekeeper goes on with her business. She doesn’t want to give up.

For example, ‘Three Summers’ not only comments on the corruption and distaste of the Brazilian elite, but also has its sights on the middle class. Come on, the decadence of the highest social class is still a long way off. The fact that the same middle class has changed from a dime to a quarter also speaks in their favor. But that money has to be made incessantly tends to the same characteristic greed. Especially if that money is raked in with the same questionable means and methods. Both social groups live with the telephone, as an extension of the body, glued to the hand. Humanity is getting further and further away.

Is all then lost? Another summer later, it is then 2018, Madá continues her business carefree. Yet, as a true Christmas present, she gets a chance to show what she once was. But the question remains whether the life of appearances has not become too much part of her personality. The viewer sees it as a fly on the wall. There is no intervention. The change must come from within the person himself. And that is quite a task.