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Selton Mello, Raul Cortez, Juliana Carneiro da Cunha, Simone Spoladore, Leonardo Medeiros ... see more see more... , Caio Blat , Monica Nassif , Christiana Kalache , Renta Rizek , Denise del Vecchio , Pablo Cancio , Samir Muci , Leda Samara

One young man's forbidden love threatens to destroy his life and tear his family apart in this epic-length period drama from Brazil. In the early '40s, teenaged Andre (Selton Mello) is being raised in... read more read more... a strict and deeply religious home, where his father (Raul Cortez) is known to grill his children about his spiritual failings over the dinner table. However, Andre is being torn apart inside by his uncontrollable lust for his sister Ana (Simone Spoladore); a beautiful young woman, Ana unknowingly excited her brother's desires while dancing uninhibitedly at a community gathering, and now he's wracked with longing for her. Unable to remain at home with Ana, Andre runs away to live with his secret shame, only to be brought back into the family fold by his older brother, Pedro (Leonardo Medeiros). Andre confesses his unnatural desire to Pedro, but he finds that confession does little to ease his passion, and while Ana remains unaware of her brother's feelings for her, she is also being consumed with desires she cannot freely express until she once again performs a lust-addled dance at neighborhood festival. Adapted from a novel by Raduan Nassar, Lavoura Arcaica was written, directed, and edited by Luiz Fernando Carvalho; it was his first theatrical feature after a celebrated career in Brazilian television. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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479 ratings

Unrated, 2 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Luiz Fernando Carvalho

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DVD Release Date: December 5, 2006

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Lavoura Arcaica (To the Left of Father) Selton Mello in Lavoura Arcaica
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Flixster Reviews (38)

  • Ghw12158
    October 7, 2011
    Ghw12158
    at 172 minutes this epic drama is lavish, violent lyrical and almost dreamlike. like the 16th and 17th century english writers and poets it looks back lovingly at a simple farm life and a family with nostalgia and longing to return to that life as a big tight knit family as the o... read moreldest brother tries to bring back his other brother who has run away.

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Critic Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt
July 24, 2002
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

Rather than pull you into the story, the movie's tricked-out manner -- the mournful music, the actors' overwrought emotionalism, the excruciatingly claustrophobic camerawork -- shoves you away.

Fernando F. Croce
December 1, 2006
Fernando F. Croce, Slant Magazine

Long, heavy, and soberly elating, the film envisions a heightened reality, like Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers. Full Review

Dennis Harvey
November 12, 2008
Dennis Harvey, Variety

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Pablo Villaca
January 23, 2004
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

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December 1, 2007
Slant Magazine

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John Thomason
December 30, 2006
John Thomason, Orlando Weekly

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