Delicadeza (2022)

TENDERNESS is an adaptation of an unpublished play, written in 2003 by the author and journalist Miguel Paiva. It tells the story of Duda and Bia, two long-term friends that haven't seen each other in 12 years. They both have a disturbing memory of Duda's 15th birthday party. The party ended in heartbreak and alcohol abuse. Now, in their 30s, the two meet again, in the same house where the party took place, to review their lives, facing all the twists and surprises from all the transformations they went through during the years they were apart. It looks like that party has never ended. The film takes place in the late 90s, in a newly-democracy where women found space to free themselves, but still with many residues of a type of society in which women were raised to marry. These two women are the daughters of a generation that lived through the military dictatorship when women would marry, have children, and, If they wanted to be who they indeed were, they had to break certain patterns. Some secrets could only be told to one's best friend.