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Good Manners

Name: Good Manners
Director: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Released: 2018
Duration: 136 min

Representation Score

9.1/10

Excellent

2018

Director

Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra

Runtime

136 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Good Manners is a progressive genre piece that uses horror to dismantle traditional domestic structures. It succeeds by weaving queer identity and gender subversion into a cohesive, complex narrative that challenges the stability of the family unit. The film's strength lies in its intentionality, using the relationship between Clara and Ana to disrupt assumptions about straight relationships. It moves beyond passive archetypes to explore complex power dynamics and bodily autonomy. While the film excels in identity-driven tension, it remains more focused on psychological and class-based dynamics than on specific representations of neurodivergence or physical disability.

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Category Breakdown

Does Good Manners have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film centers its entire narrative around a non-straight relationship between two women. Their intimate bond serves as the main driver of the plot, rather than a minor subplot.

How does Good Manners portray gender?

Excellent

By focusing on a female-centric domestic space, the film challenges traditional gender roles. The characters play a significant role in driving the story, actively navigating and disrupting societal expectations related to maternal and domestic roles.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Good Manners?

Good

The story uses the socioeconomic landscape of São Paulo to create tension. While reflecting regional demographics, the narrative prioritizes the intersection of class and domestic labor over specific racial exploration.

How does Good Manners represent religion and culture?

Good

The film challenges Western notions of family sanctity through a lens of moral relativism. It uses supernatural elements to present the domestic sphere as a site of psychological instability.

Does Good Manners include disability representation?

Fair

Themes of bodily autonomy and physical transformation function as metaphors for altered states of being. However, these elements serve body horror clichés rather than specific explorations of disability.

Present on Screen

Centering queer intimacy as a foundational narrative engine rather than a subplot.
Subverting traditional gender roles through female-centric ability to act and domesticity.
Using genre frameworks to effectively deconstruct social and interpersonal power dynamics.

Limited or Absent

Utilizing bodily transformations more as horror clichés than as specific disability explorations.
Focusing more on psychological dynamics than on explicit racial representation within the setting.

Official Synopsis

Clara, a lonely nurse from the outskirts of São Paulo, is hired by mysterious and wealthy Ana as the nanny for her unborn child. The two women develop a strong bond, but soon Clara discovers a terrifying secret about the child.

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