The plot eventually loses pathos. Before then, however, it reaches its high point in a wonderfully staged moment of "so near yet so far".

The screenplay, adapted by Murilo Hauser, Inés Bortagaray and director Karim Aïnouz, is expertly calibrated. They don't often make them like this any more.

The movie is saturated with emotion and colour, though its novelistic depth brings with it the slightly effortful running time of two hours and 20 minutes.

There’s not a single second wasted in a story which is not just about the strength of family bonds, but also doubles as an indictment of old-fashioned gender stereotypes.