Alice is in her forties and works as a manicurist in a beauty salon. She lives in a neighborhood in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, sharing an apartment with her mother, Dona Jacira, her husband, Lindomar, a taxi-driver, and their three sons, Lucas, Edinho, and Junior.
At home, Dona Jacira takes care of the household chores. She washes, irons, cooks, and cleans, while listening to her favorite radio show. Carlinhos Abranches, the show’s host, seems to alleviate the old woman’s loneliness, who realizes she is gradually going blind.
Lucas, the eldest son and a conservative young man by nature, is in the army and has ambitions of becoming a lieutenant, so that he can imitate the authoritarian behavior of his superiors. In his free time, he secretly makes extra money from the old men with whom he spends time together.
Edinho, the middle son, is Dona Jacira´s most affectionate grandson, but even she is not spared from his need and compulsion for a new pair of sneakers or a walkman.
Junior, the youngest son, is the most fragile and closest to Alice. Lucas is his role model and like all adolescents, he is tormented by affection and his own sexual awakenings.
After 20 years of marriage, neither Lindomar nor Alice expect much in the way of reconciliation. The taxi-driver saves his sexual impulses for the affairs that he maintains, with a preference for teenage girls. Alice pretends not to acknowledge her husband's infidelities.
Enter Nilson, Alice’s old boyfriend from adolescence. Alice sees in him the possibility to realize her romantic dreams, changing the course of her love life and finances. Once more she creates illusions that will lead her to nothing.
- Official Selection at 57th Berlin International Film Festival.
- Prêmio TVE/ CICAE - Cine en Construcción/San Sebastian 2006.
- Best Film – Grand Prix/Le Rigard D’Or-21st Fribourg International Film Festival.
- Youth Jury Award - 21st Fribourg International Film Festival.
- E-Changer Award - 21st Fribourg International Film Festival.
- Best Actress - 2007 Miami International Film Festival.
- Special Jury Prize - 2007 Guadalajara International Film Festival.
- Best Actress - 2007 Guadalajara International Film Festival.
- FIPRESCI Award - 2007 Guadalajara International Film Festival.
- Best Actress – 2007 Rio International Film Festival.
- Best Actress – 2007 Lisbon Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
- Silver Plaque Chico Teixeira - 2007 Chicago Int'l Film Festival.
- Best Actress – 2007 Sao Paulo International Film Festival.
- Opera Prima, Chico Teixeira, 2007 Havana International Film Festival.
- Best Actress Motion Picture 2007 - Sao Paulo Art Critics Association
“Documaker Chico Teixeira gives a light, natural feel to his small but fetching first feature, set in a working class household in Sao Paulo that gets turned upside down by everyday dramas of sexual and emotional betrayal. Illuminated by a glowing Carla Ribas in the title role, it is well worth a look.” - Variety, Deborah Young, February 15, 2007
"Perhaps the most fascinating figure in the festival’s entire cinematic lineup is actually a secondary character in a film. The Brazilian A Casa de Alice (Alice’s House) follows middle-aged Alice — a wife in a sexless marriage and mother to three young men with lives of their own — who uses the return of a childhood sweetheart into her life to jump-start her romantic and erotic fantasies. But it’s her elderly mother, who lives with Alice’s family, who steals the film. Working as a tireless housekeeper in order to earn her stay, the older woman is privy to the secrets and private lives of the entire household. Watching her take in the assorted duplicities but still hold her tongue is what gives Casa its unforced power" - Ernst Hardy, LA Weekly, October 3, 2007
“(Director) Teixeira’s ordinary characters have a quiet genuineness and clarity rare these days in cinema.” - Screen International, David D’Arcy, February 12, 2007
“Alice’s House might appear as one of the best actual Brazilian cinema productions, presenting one dry and safe chronicle of a real middle class which hasn't been filmed by national cinema yet.” - CinemaScópio (UOL), Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Related to the details, the surprising look, the non-rehearsed situations, ALICE'S HOUSE can be considered a discovery of Berlin’s Festival.” - Der Tagesspiegel – Berlin, Daniela Sannwald
“The CICAE jury decided unanimously to award the feature ALICE'S HOUSE by Chico Teixeira for it’s excellent direction and realistic representation of a Brazilian family, and also for the excellent construction of the characters and situations showed.” - CICAE - Confédération Internationale des Cinemas Arts et Essai
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