The family in the new Portuguese film Autumn is close. Maybe a little too close. Mom is cupping Dad's balls when interrupted by a call from their Son, who's packing for college. Mom leaves Dad hanging, so to speak, to go help Son find his bongos.
Later, Mom will lament that her son "was raised in my belly. Closer would be impossible. But since he came out, he's just been getting further and further away. Sometimes I wish he would come back inside me." Yikes.
Dad is a man-child, a self-professed "adventurer," who doesn't appreciate Mom's angst. But even he reacts to the coming separation when wrestling with his grown Son. Their coupling goes into slow motion, and the camera lingers as he holds the boy, smelling him in.
Then there's Sister. She, too, is touchy-feely and makes goo-goo eyes at her brother. (Dad won't see Sis as a woman until she is half-dressed and in distress. Again, yikes.)
Maybe it's how they do it in the country. The family is isolated and has spent a life in close proximity, their only contact with the outside world being those who come off the occasional train.
Autumn (more literally translated from the Portuguese as My Little House) is the debut feature of Portuguese director António Sequeira. It's a first film, and the choice of subjects in first films can be revealing. Is it wrong to see a sexual subtext running under these scenes? Does Autumn simply display the joys of being in a demonstrative family? All we can safely assume is that the film is a labor of love.
Dad Octavio (Miguel Frazão) is a burly Zorba type, singing and dancing, and expecting everyone to join in. To him, life is all happy-happy joy-joy. He is given to racist jokes, wrasslin', and hunting gifts on birthdays. Mom Susana (Elsa Valentim) is the family’s soul and dutiful center. Son Tomas (Salvador Gil) is ambivalent: he'll leave to start a new life, but also doesn't mind having his feet rubbed (and kissed) by his doting Mom. And Sister Belinha (Beatriz Frazão) has plans of her own to escape. She aspires to attend fashion school in Germany. She presents her brother with a shirt she has sewn, and is put off when she sees Son’s new girlfriend sporting it.
Autumn bursts with color. The family home is a glorious mess, a riot of tapestries and tchotchkes. You want to live there yourself. Autumn is fast. It zips along, flashing subtitles and riding a score of pop-ish songs that overexplain easy emotions.
But speed doesn't mean substance. No one in the family has been bruised by the ways of the world. For all the commotion, viewers may realize that they're not seeing much. The characters, with the notable exception of Mom, don't really ripen or mature. They get older, yes (in one of the film's more fun flourishes, young Mom and Dad stroll along the beach, Dad in front pontificating. Matching shots of Mom have her holding a baby, then an increasingly older child, until she is old and is burdened by a fully-grown Son on her back.
That's not to say Autumn isn't entertaining. Its zest can be contagious. It's a stylish exercise, reminiscent of other joie de vivre movies, and you might well get swept up in the ruckus. Even so, Autumn has all the elements of an impending storm, but the storm never comes.
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Autumn. Directed by António Sequeira. 2023. Portuguese with English subtitles. 114 minutes.