About
After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.
Cast & crew
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Why you'll love it
The quintessential companion piece, focusing on the invisibility of domestic workers and the complex bond between them and their employers.
Roma
2018 · GB, US
Why you'll love it
Explores the exact same territory of a domestic worker navigating the boundaries of a wealthy, often clueless family.
Spanglish
2004 · US
Why you'll love it
A powerful exploration of class, domestic labor, and racial dynamics that echoes the social critique of The Second Mother.
The Help
2011 · US
Why you'll love it
Matches the focus on resilient working-class women navigating family secrets and domestic sacrifice with a blend of dark humor and poignant emotional intensity.
Volver
2006 · ES
Why you'll love it
A direct thematic match that explores class dynamics and the disruption of a householder's orderly life when their domestic support system vanishes.
Norma
2023 · AR, CL, UY
Why you'll love it
Provides a direct thematic mirror to the experience of a domestic worker navigating the suffocating, arbitrary rules of a wealthy, dysfunctional household.
The Nanny Diaries
2007 · US
Why you'll love it
A profound look at immigrant struggle, parental sacrifice, and the suffocating reality of class and economic barriers.
A Better Life
2011 · US
Why you'll love it
Deals with the heavy emotional weight of family loyalty and cultural expectations with the same wry, poignant touch.
The Farewell
2019 · CN, US