Fernanda Torres’ Homecoming in ‘I’m Still Here’
For Fernanda Torres, "I’m Still Here" is more than just a film – it’s a homecoming. Directed by Walter Salles, the Portuguese-language drama is nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress (Torres). She’s only the second Brazilian actor to receive an Oscar nod: The first was her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was nominated for Salles’ “Central Station” in 1998. Montenegro, now 95, even has a small role in “I’m Still Here,” which tells the heroic true story of Brazilian activist Eunice Paiva.
“It’s really unbelievable, it’s a very similar path with my mother,” says Torres, 59, who won a Golden Globe for Best Drama Actress last month. “After the Golden Globes, my mother said, ‘I knew it would happen.’ And she was sure about this (nomination), too. But I never thought it would be possible – it’s a very tough year with so many great female performances.”
A Story of Resilience and Courage
Set in early 1970s Brazil under military dictatorship, “I’m Still Here” follows the once-idyllic life of Eunice and her husband, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a dissident former congressman. But their family’s world is thrown into turmoil when Rubens is arrested and mysteriously disappears, and Eunice is tortured and interrogated about her husband’s political dealings. When she is finally released, Eunice endeavors to find answers about Rubens’ whereabouts, all while trying to keep a semblance of normalcy for their five kids.
Torres closely studied old interviews of Paiva, who went back to college at age 46 and became a human rights lawyer. (She died in 2018 at 89 after living with Alzheimer’s for 15 years.)
“She was very feminine and raised to be the perfect housewife,” Torres says. “At the same time, she was very intelligent. As a human being at this moment, Eunice teaches us about being civilized. Brazil lived in an uncivilized regime, and she fought it with civilized manners.”
A Subtle and Heartbreaking Performance
Part of what’s so remarkable about Torres’ performance is her restraint: The actress has primarily worked in theater and Brazilian TV comedies, so “I’ve never done anything as subtle as this,” she says. Torres recalls one particularly heart-wrenching scene, where Eunice takes her kids to an ice cream parlor after a devastating setback. She smiles faintly and tearfully pulls her daughter close, silently glancing around the room at all the happy families.
“That’s when she understands the utopia is gone and the life she used to have will never come back,” Torres says. Getting ready to shoot that day, “I could feel Eunice entering me; something was happening that I was not controlling. I could access her like she was the real me, which has never happened to me like this.”
A Star from a Young Age
Growing up in Rio de Janeiro, some of Torres’ earliest memories were watching her famous parents rehearse Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller plays at the dinner table. (Her father, Fernando Torres, was also an actor and director.) She never thought twice about becoming an actress: “It wasn’t until I was 30 that I said, ‘Oh, my God, I could have been a scientist! Now I’m stuck with this profession.’ ”
Stardom came early for Torres, who at 20 won Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival for the 1986 drama “Love Me Forever or Never.” At the time, “I was doing a soap opera and I hated it with all my heart. I was playing the dumb innocent girl,” she recalls with a grin. But the Cannes prize, “it was like the World Cup! I was being celebrated. And the award gave me independence. My mother was so big, and it said, ‘There is a reason for another actress called Fernanda to exist.’ ”
Throughout the ’90s, Torres starred in thrillers ‘Gêmeas’ and ‘Four Days in September’ alongside her mother, as well as her first film with Salles, ‘Foreign Land.’ She also branched out into other fields, finding great success as a novelist, producer and newspaper columnist.
“Fernanda is one of those rare artists who can excel in different mediums,” Salles says. “She’s an extraordinary comedian. She can play Antigone. She is an accomplished screenwriter. That comes not only from her emotional intelligence, but also from her joy of life and constant curiosity. And the beauty about her is that you never sense the effort – it’s just part of who she is intrinsically.”
A Global Success
Although Torres once envisioned a Hollywood career, she never thought it would be feasible because of the accent and language barriers. “Brazil is a huge island with 200 million people, and we consume our own culture with an intense fervor,” Torres says. “In Brazil, I had so many things I could do. As a foreigner, I would never have this chance in America. So I’m very glad this Oscar nomination came about now because I feel mature. I’m not the imbecile I was at the time of Cannes!”
Torres is a social-media sensation in Brazil with more than 4 million Instagram followers. She credits that to the massive box-office success of “I’m Still Here” in her home country, as well as her past Brazilian sitcom work, which she likens to “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” (“They created a lot of memes!”)
A Path of Constant Evolution
But another comedy appearance has recently drawn backlash in an already scandal-filled Oscar season: In 2008, Torres wore blackface in an episode of Brazilian sketch show “Fantastico.” The clip resurfaced days after last month’s Oscar nominations, and Torres swiftly issued an apology.
In the early 2000s, Brazil “was a bubble,” Torres says. “If you did sketch comedy, there were only white directors, white script writers, white producers in the mainstream. And everybody involved thought that when you do sketch comedy, you’ll do a German person, an old person, a young person – all kinds (of people).’But in the years to follow, racial justice movements “started to explain more loudly that is very, very offensive. There was a lot of blindness and we had to fight against it. Now, it has changed completely. All these movements helped us to see better, and I like to think I’m part of the society who is trying to understand, listen and change.”
After a globetrotting awards season, Torres is most excited to just relax with her husband, filmmaker Andrucha Waddington, and their four sons. She says that playing Eunice has made her a better actress, and she hopes to carry her spirit into whatever project she embarks on next.
“She’s a great guide for dystopic times,” Torres says. “With the nomination, there’s the risk of believing this is for you. But in this case, it has a lot to do with Eunice – what people fall in love with is this woman.”
