Invisible Life
A lush tropical melodrama drenched in saturated colors, tracing the parallel, stifling lives of two sisters separated by a father's lie and the suffocating shadows of a patriarchal 1950s Rio de Janeiro.
Invisible Life
Invisible Life

A Vida Invisível

"A tropical melodrama"

30 August 2019 Brazil 140 min ⭐ 7.8 (334)
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Cast: Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler, Fernanda Montenegro, Gregório Duvivier, Bárbara Santos
Drama
The Oppression of Patriarchy Sisterhood as a Sanctuary The Stifling of Female Ambition Chosen Family vs. Biological Family

Invisible Life - Characters & Cast

Character Analysis

Eurídice Gusmão

Carol Duarte / Fernanda Montenegro

Archetype: The Tragic Dreamer
Key Trait: Diligence

Motivation

To attend the Vienna Conservatory and to find her sister, who she believes is living a glamorous life in Europe.

Character Arc

Starts as a gifted pianist full of hope, transitions into a resigned housewife whose fire is slowly extinguished by domestic duty, only to experience a devastating realization in her old age.

Guida Gusmão

Julia Stockler

Archetype: The Rebellious Survivor
Key Trait: Resilience

Motivation

To find the love she was promised and to reunite with Eurídice, the only person who ever truly saw her.

Character Arc

Evolves from a naive romantic who elopes for love into a hardened, independent woman who builds a life from nothing and never stops searching for her sister.

Antenor

Gregório Duvivier

Archetype: The Banality of Evil
Key Trait: Obliviousness

Motivation

To maintain a traditional, "respectable" household and fulfill his physical and social desires as a man of his time.

Character Arc

Remains largely static as a representative of the average 1950s patriarch—not a monster in his own eyes, but a man whose entitlement makes him a primary obstacle to Eurídice's happiness.

Cast

Carol Duarte as Eurídice Gusmão
Julia Stockler as Guida Gusmão
Fernanda Montenegro as Older Eurídice Gusmão
Gregório Duvivier as Antenor
Bárbara Santos as Filomena
Flávia Gusmão as Ana
António Fonseca as Manoel
Maria Manoella as Zélia
Cristina Pereira as Cecília
Nikolas Antunes as Iorgus
Cláudio Gabriel as Tonico
Flávio Bauraqui as Detective Macedo
Gillray Coutinho as Afonso
Alexandre Paz as Moisés
Andressa Cabral as Amira