Synopsis
Summer 1996, northeast of Brazil. In the small village of Garça Torta, Tamara enjoys her last holidays before leaving for preparatory studies to enter college. One day, she hears about a girl with a scar across her chest nicknamed Heartless. Over the summer, Tamara feels a growing attraction for this mysterious girl.
Where to watch Heartless:
This adaptation of the short film “ Heartless” (2014) into a feature film balances the naturalism of an adolescence shared with nature and the fantasy that exacerbates the feelings experienced by the young main characters.
The feature also nods to “Guaxuma” (2018), the second short film by director Nara Normande. In this film, the filmmaker imprints her perception of the flow of time during her adolescence, while the feature takes advantage of the enchanting landscape of Guaxuma beach, in Maceió, to bring to the screen the sensorial aspect of growing up amidst an abundance of space and nature.
The conflict arises precisely because of the contrast between the vast physical freedom experienced by the characters and the limits of tolerance for what is considered natural, something that is not only a consequence of regional isolation, but which seems to be normalized because of it. When she finds herself attracted to another girl (the title character, played by Eduarda Samara), Tamara (Maya de Vicq) finds herself alone with a feeling she doesn’t share with her mother or the friends she interacts with daily.
About to move from the coastal region to Brasília, Tamara begins to understand that everything that defines her existence is about to change, which brings a contemplative look that is mixed with introspection on what is yet new to her. If on the one hand “Guaxuma” focused on the memory of the director’s childhood friend and what the two experienced together, the feature narrates the events of 1996 as present, while at the same time placing Sem Coração as another natural phenomenon, with all its strength, mystery and fragility to human contact.
Why we recommend it
A female coming-of-age, “Heartless” is well aware of how the relationship between time and nature can be an exuberant thing to watch on screen. By contrast, Tamara’s unverbalized conflicts meet the constant slow changes of nature around her.
Credits
• Format: Feature/Ficion
• Runtime: 1h 35min
• Year: 2023
• Countries: Brazil/Italy/France
• Languages: Brazilian-Portugues/Italian
• Genre: Drama
• Production Company: Cinemascópio/Les Valseurs/Nefertiti Film/Komplizen
• Distribuitor: Vitrine Filmes
• Director and Writer: Nara Normande & Tião
• Cast: Maya de Vicq, Eduarda Samara, Maeve Jinkings, Erom Cordeiro, Ian Boechat, Kaique Brito, Alaylson Emanuel, Lucas Da Silva, Elany Santos
• 1ª Assistant Director: Laura Mansur
• Cinematography: Evgenia Alexandrova
• Production Design: Thales Junqueira
• Costume Design: Preta Marquesi
• Make-up: Natie Cortez
• Editing: Juliana Munhoz, Eduardo Serrano, Isabelle Manquillet
• Sound: Lucas Caminha
• Sound Design: Riccardo Spagnol, Gianluca Gasparrini
• Direct Sound Engineer: Adam Levý
• Sound mixing: Gilles Bernardeau
• Music: Tratenwald
