‘Mother Outside the Box’ reveals real motherhood

A bittersweet comedy: this is how Mia Mello defines “Mother outside the box”, a film currently showing in BH. In the film, she plays the protagonist Manu, a young mother who sees her life turned upside down with the birth of her first daughter.

“The postpartum period is no fun at all. None!”, emphasizes Miá, in a warning tone, in an interview with Folha de S.Paulo. Mother of Nina, 15, and Antônio, seven years old, the actress, however, uses the power of laughter to communicate the main message of the film: what real motherhood is like.

Star of comedies such as “Meu Passado Me Condena” and voice actress for “Dijante Mente”, Miá believes that humor has the ability to open discussions about thorny subjects with a gentle approach. “But, more than making a comedy for the Brazilian public to laugh at, my objective as an artist was to convey the truth. Leave the film in a tone in which women feel represented”, says the actress, who also works as a screenwriter.

Directed by Manuh Fontes, the film is inspired by the play of the same name with which Miá toured the country for almost five years – adapted, in turn, from the book of the same name by Thaís Vilarinho.

Unlike the character, Miá had a calm first motherhood. The trouble came, to the surprise of the actress herself, when her second child was born, the result of a fully planned pregnancy.

“Antônio was very planned, I saved money, saved up, decided that I had to get pregnant in the month in order to get my license at the perfect time. I thought he would be a calm baby and a child was born who didn’t settle down”, he says. “It was months of frustration, of a feeling of not being able to cope.”

“I had a very high expectation of control,” he says, in perspective. “In my first pregnancy, I was looser, more open and maybe that was the big key.”

The director, who is also a mother and has been in the character’s shoes, adds: “This guilt comes from the romanticization of motherhood, when they tell us that it is sacred, that it is a unique moment.” The idea of ​​the film is to reveal the opposite of this sacredness: the less divine side of things.

Talking about true motherhood, for Manuh, is talking about insecurities, guilt, doubts, lack of control over everything, boiling hormones and a shaken marriage. “We create a deep bond with the public because it is a common, almost universal thing,” he says.

New debates

For the filmmaker, bringing a female perspective to cinema has the power to open up space for important debates. The expansion of paternity leave, for example, which is being discussed in the Senate, is a topic addressed in the film through comical scenes.

In the plot, Danton Mello plays André, Manu’s husband, a loving, present and participative father, but who, nevertheless, manages to take a leap in his career and even enjoy a day at the beach while his wife can barely take a shower. “There is a gap between his donation and his mother’s donation”, observes Manuh.

“For a long time, motherhood was portrayed through male eyes, by men. When we bring a female theme from a female perspective, we give a voice to actually show what happens, what the reality is, how women feel, what they experience, what the dynamics of the house are like, the pains and the delights”, she says. “And when we generate different perspectives, dialogue is created, space for debate is opened. If you only have one voice, you can’t debate anything.

Miá adds: “I don’t want to think that I’m going to solve anything with this film, but I hope that it will be a tool to open these new discussions that are so necessary.” (Anahi Martinho)

“MOTHER OUTSIDE THE BOX”

Directed by Manuh Fontes. With Miá Mello and Danton Mello. Showing in BH on the Cineart, Cinemark and Cinépolis networks.