A Unique Brazilian Discovery at Berlin Film Festival 2025 – BRAZILIAN PRESS // O maior jornal brasileiro fora do Brasil

Roger Costa
THE NATURE OF INVISIBLE THINGS
Midway into this profoundly sensitive female-driven coming-of-age story, the protagonist, 10-year-old Gloria, reaches her limits, loses her patience and angrily opens up to her mother how she feels misunderstood and misplaced amidst the circumstances. The scene feels humane and relatable and summarizes the hormonal anxiety and expectations of the young girl. She is on school vacation and her mother continuously takes her to the hospital where she works as a nurse, upsetting her plans for a fun vacation.

There she meets Sofia, a more rebellious pre-teen whose wise observations gives her a sense of cruelty, especially as she describes her situation: she is there for her great-grandmother who suffered an attack while they were home alone, leaving her mother under social services investigations. Gloria and Sofia are very different one from another, Gloria is naive, very fragile and co-dependent; Sofia is an independent, stormy force, a premature free-spirited soul who believes she knows more than anyone else, constantly getting into conflicts with her mother. Somehow, grieving, or the expectation of that, abandonment, loneliness and the sense of being different and outcast bring these two girls together for the ultimate childhood lesson that will take them to the next level of maturity. But mostly, death is the element most present in these girls’ exploration of identity, spirituality and existentialism.

While Sofia is dealing with the imminent death of her granny, Gloria is exposed to death every day during her hospital visits and relationship with the patients. Gloria also has had a heart transplant which makes her believe she had died before. As Sofia’s granny practices the “natural-spiritual-healing” rituals to break curses and set free wandering souls, both girls develop a gift to connect with the beyond but in different realms. Making her feature directorial debut, Brazilian filmmaker Rafaela Camelo proves authenticity and familiarity with the delicate, yet intense material depicted here: blending magical realism and social drama to convey a message of awareness and empathy for those dealing with loss and unexpected crisis, Camelo delivers an accurate feminine study on self-acceptance and overcoming trauma.

Though the film centers its strength on the girls’ richly captivating friendship, and how they absorb the world around them, Camelo’s screenplay expands through multiple levels of female observation, capturing the dilemmas affecting their mothers and the great-grandmother. Gloria’s mother suffers with the fact she can’t take some time off work to spend with her daughter, as she’s the only family provider; Then, Sofia’s goes through the same single mother situation but has a tempestuous relationship with the daughter and faces both the law and society when it comes to deciding what to do with her gravely ill matriarch.
On the other hand, the seemingly delusional great-grandmother, suffering with dementia, has some overdue issues to settle before saying goodbye, and some rituals must be done at their countryside property. Narrated with shades of lyricism, deeply sensitive and structured as a dreamlike, where girls lose their innocence to the inevitable hurdles of life, Camelo has also at her favor the incredibly effective and charismatic performances form the entire cast. But especially the two girls, both delivering impactful performances. The film also keeps a secret until its very ending, which is very affecting and somehow it plays like an unexpected twist.
An ode to the female universe and the powerful ability of overcoming trauma through spiritual healing and self-realization.
(A natureza das coisas invisíveis. Brasil/Chile, 2025. Moveo Filmes).