Standing Firm for “I’m Still Here”

The  phrase “I’m Still Here” has many uses. It’s the title of several songs: one of my favorites is from Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, a salute to a theatrical trouper who’s lived through good times and bum times and still refuses—at a ripe old age—to give up on her career dreams. It has also been used to title several films. One, from 2010, is Casey Affleck’s mockumentary starring Joaquin Phoenix as a version of himself who’s on the brink of leaving acting in order to become a hip hop artist.

 But surely the most powerful I’m Still Here is the 2024 film by a Brazilian master, Walter Salles. (Its original Portuguese title is Ainda Estou Aqui .) The film is a biographical tribute to an actual Brazilian woman who, circa 1970,  faced the loss of her husband and her comfortable way of life to the authoritarian regime then in power.  We open with a glimpse of Rubens Paiva and his family romping near their home. Rubens, a former federal deputy, has made a comfortable life for his large family. On one of Rio’s sun-kissed beaches they all pose for snapshots,  toss around a beachball, and some of the kids make friends with a stray dog. Later they cross the road to their large, comfortable house, where a sumptuous meal awaits. As the materfamilias, the slim and effortlessly elegant Eunice Paiva oversees everything with gentle grace.

 But from the start there are rumblings of more serious matters. One of the family’s teen daughters, returning from the movies with rambunctious friends, runs into a military checkpoint at which obedience to the powers-that-be is no joke.  And soon thereafter, Rubens is picked up by the authorities to be questioned about his secret commitment to the outlawed pro-democracy movement. He is never seen or heard from again.

 This leaves it to Eunice to maintain the household equilibrium while struggling to get news of her husband’s plight.  This is made all the harder because she has never been clued in to Rubens’ clandestine political activities. At one point she is arrested herself, and held for twelve days under sordid conditions. Once she is released, it falls to her to comfort the youngest children while being clear-headed enough to plan for everyone’s immediate future.

 A key concern, of course, is money.  Eunice regretfully dismisses the loyal household help and sets about selling the family residence. The plan is to move to her  home city, São Paulo, where family members still live. The surprise is how Eunice evolves over the course of the film. We discover, after a time jump, that in 1973 she enrolled in law school, graduating at age 47 and becoming—following the country’s return to democracy—an expert on civil rights law, nationally admired for championing indigenous people. The film takes us to the year 1996 and then 2014, tracking the life of this tenacious woman.

 It's a remarkably multi-dimensional role, and Fernanda Torres is up to the challenge. The Rio de Janeiro-born daughter of two actors, she surprised many in Hollywood by taking home a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. When this year’s Oscar nominations were announced, she was include on a list of five nominees—including Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, and Cynthia Erivo—up for Best Actress. It’s rare indeed to be nominated for a foreign language film. The last Brazilian actress on this list was Torres’ own mother, Fernanda Montenegro, for Salles’ 1998 Central Station. (Now in her 90s, Montenegro played her daughter’s long-lived character in the very last scene of I'm Still Here.)