In the last decade, two of South America’s best directors (Pablo Larraín and Sebastian Lelio, both Chilean) made their English language debuts (“Jackie”, and “Disobedience”) with bold films about women resisting to be quelled by their historical and societal circumstances. I hoped that Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, who has made an impressive career of Brazilian films since his directorial debut in 2001, would follow in their footsteps. Despite some thematic intrigue, and one excellent performance at its centre, “Firebrand” is a bit of a disappointment for Aïnouz, who directs an inconsistent film without only intermittent pleasures.
When Aïnouz’s previous film, “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão”, premiered in 2019 it felt like the sign of a good director finally at the height of his great talent. The sweeping melodrama that traced the plight of two sisters in mid-century Brazil, was one of the best films of that year. Its account of the female struggles inherent in an uncaring world, made it one of the decade’s most clear-eyed feminist tales.
On the surface, an adaptation of Elizabeth Fremantle revisionist feminist tale, “Queen’s Gambit” seemed like a natural extension. The novel, adapted by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth under the title “Firebrand”, is the story of Henry VIII and Catherine Parr’s last few years of marriage. Parr outlived the infamous King, and the ahistorical plot of the story gives her a feminist.