The Second Mother (2015) – Filming Locations
Drama · Directed by Anna Muylaert · Starring Lourenço Mutarelli, Regina Casé
After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.
Where was The Second Mother filmed?
- São Paulo, Brazil, São Paulo – Val's workplace and the wealthy family's penthouse apartment in an upscale neighborhood. The affluent South Zone district provides the setting for the contrast between the family's luxury living space and Val's modest domestic worker existence
- São Paulo, Brazil, São Paulo – Val's modest home and community where her son Fabricio lives. The contrast between the sprawling informal settlements and modest homes of São Paulo's periphery highlights the stark socioeconomic divide central to the film's narrative
- São Paulo, Brazil, São Paulo – Val navigating the city, shopping scenes, and encounters in public spaces. The broader São Paulo cityscape grounds the film in contemporary urban Brazil and emphasizes Val's movement between different social worlds