Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

To the Left of the Father

Play trailer To the Left of the Father 2001 2h 43m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 3 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
In 1940s Brazil, a runaway (Selton Mello) tells his older brother about his incestuous desire for his beautiful sister.

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Fernando F. Croce Slant Magazine Long, heavy, and soberly elating, the film envisions a heightened reality, like Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers. Rated: 3.5/4 Dec 1, 2006 Full Review Kirk Honeycutt The Hollywood Reporter Rather than pull you into the story, the movie's tricked-out manner -- the mournful music, the actors' overwrought emotionalism, the excruciatingly claustrophobic camerawork -- shoves you away. Jul 24, 2002 Full Review Pablo Villaça Cinema em Cena Rated: 5/5 Jan 23, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (28) audience reviews
Audience Member Movies like these make me embarrassed of Brazilian cinema. Pretentious to the limit, overly long with ridiculous, unnecessarily complex voice-overs and embarrassing, never ending images will make sure only the strongest viewers endure this movie until the end. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member I tried to watch this movie the other night. I ended up fast forwarding through most of it. It just takes too much time to make its point. For anyone who likes a film that moves along at a good clip, this movie will be very tiresome. I don't think the average person can sit through so much dialogue these days...Plus I have noticed that past few years that a lot of these type of movies are rather timid in their portrayal of the stuff that actually goes on in families like these. Or maybe I have been desensitized by all the shocking stuff that keeps coming out in the real world!!! Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member A Lovelorn Poem about Forbbidden Love captured on Film... Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member at 172 minutes this epic drama is lavish, violent lyrical and almost dreamlike. like the 16th and 17th century english writers and poets it looks back lovingly at a simple farm life and a family with nostalgia and longing to return to that life as a big tight knit family as the oldest brother tries to bring back his other brother who has run away. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Slow, often prolix and sometimes almost unintelligible, but... beautiful. In all cinematographic aspects, especially direction, acting, photography and music. Oh, the music... marvelous. And above all the perfect alchemy between movie´s elements, all of them. Exquisite job on recreation of the Raduan Nassar´s base book´s dense atmosphere. Unforgettable, like Coppola´s Godfather, Padilha´s Elite Squad and Meirelles´s City of God. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Uma obra-prima do cinema nacional. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
To the Left of the Father

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1940s Brazil, a runaway (Selton Mello) tells his older brother about his incestuous desire for his beautiful sister.
Director
Luiz Fernando Carvalho
Producer
Luiz Fernando Carvalho
Screenwriter
Luiz Fernando Carvalho, Raduan Nassar
Production Co
Videofilmes
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (DVD)
Jun 11, 2007
Runtime
2h 43m