Independent Films, Film Profiles

Lavoura Arcaica

Lavoura Arcaica (English-language title: To the Left of the Father) is a stylised 2001 Brazilian film, directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho, based on the novel of the same name by Raduan Nassar.The story concerns a young man, André (Selton Mello), whose ideas are radically different from his father's (Raul Cortez). The father predicates order and restraint, which enhance his own power under the mantle of family love. The son seeks freedom and ecstasy, challengingly signified, in the film, through his incestuous passion for his sister Ana (Simone Spoladore). When the son leaves home on the farm and moves to a seedy boarding house, his older brother Pedro (Leonardo Medeiros), is asked by their mother (Juliana Carneiro da Cunha) to bring him back. His return, however, will completely shatter the family's confining life.