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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Name: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Director: Anna Muylaert
Released: 2009
Duration: 85 min

Representation Score

8.7/10

Excellent

2009

Director

Anna Muylaert

Runtime

85 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Anna Muylaert’s film uses the domestic sphere to critique systemic inequities. It excels at deconstructing class hierarchies and racialized social structures in Brazil. While the film offers deep insights into the intersection of race and class, it lacks representation for LGBTQ+ identities and disability. The narrative remains firmly rooted in heterosexual and able-bodied perspectives. Ultimately, the film's strength lies in its intentionality, challenging the sanctity of traditional bourgeois institutions by centering the experiences of the working class.

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Category Breakdown

Does Smoke Gets in Your Eyes have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film centers on traditional heterosexual relationships and does not focus on LGBTQ+ identities or non-straight relationships.

How does Smoke Gets in Your Eyes portray gender?

Good

It portrays women as active protagonists who navigate systemic pressures within restrictive economic frameworks. Women are shown taking control and making decisions rather than being passive subjects.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Smoke Gets in Your Eyes?

Excellent

A Black female character is the main focus, set against a backdrop of a white upper-class family. This highlights the intersection of race and class in Brazil.

How does Smoke Gets in Your Eyes represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film critiques the exploitation of domestic labor and contrasts the lives of service workers with those of the wealthy. It highlights the disparities between different social classes.

Does Smoke Gets in Your Eyes include disability representation?

Fair

The story focuses on socioeconomic and psychological struggles. There are no prominent or central depictions of physical or cognitive disabilities.

Present on Screen

Provides a nuanced look at the intersection of race and class through a post-colonial perspective.
Explores the complexities of women's ability to drive the story and identity beyond domestic life.
Offers a powerful critique of capitalist structures and the exploitation of domestic labor.

Limited or Absent

Does not include explicit LGBTQ+ characterization or non-straight relationships.
Lacks prominent or central depictions of physical or cognitive disabilities.

Official Synopsis

In São Paulo, Brazil, the lonely 40-something guitar teacher Baby lives a tedious life in a low middle-class apartment. She is addicted to her only companions: cigarettes. Baby has a constant conflict with her two sisters, over a couch she inherited from their deceased aunt. When Max, a restaurant musician, moves to the next door apartment, Baby has a crush on him and sees a chance to have a life again. Soon they start having a love affair, and Baby decides to quit smoking. However, her abstinence will be tough to deal with, when she notices Max still misses his ex-wife.

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