Ostensibly, Aquarius is a movie about a woman of a certain age who refuses to give up her apartment home to developers. More deeply, though, the Brazilian film is about strength of character and what contributes to it. Be warned, it develops almost as slowly as character does over a lifetime. But it doesn’t matter. Director Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Clara is hypnotically played by Sonia Braga, and it’s hard to take our eyes off her. That’s partly because she’s almost always on the screen, but it’s also because she’s the picture of a strong, smart woman.
Part one is titled ‘Clara’s Hair,’ and right away we wonder if hair might be a symbol of strength. Clara is a cancer survivor and at the outset, her hair is short. But the movie quickly jumps to the present and now, here she is—wise and self-actualized in her 60s—with a mane that grows from her bones. It’s thick and glossy, black as night, and feels particularly symbolic when—after a miserable encounter with a woefully lacking date turned off by her mastectomy—she comes home and shakes it loose. “His loss,” we think as we watch her, fantastically self-sufficient, putting on a record and swaying to a smoky samba. Of course, the movie is also about place and how our identity merges with it, what ‘home’ means and when we should cling to it.
Should you see it? If you like looooong, yes. (It’s 2 hrs. 22 min.)
