Feature film based on a novel by Clarice Lispector captures the speech that seeks to give shape to the chaos of the narrator of ‘The Passion According to G.H.’ (…)
(…)
Carvalho’s feature film apprehends this disorganization that leads the protagonist to no longer know who she is and that is replicated in a disorganization of speech. Hence, the book takes on a spiral shape, which begins and ends with dashes, indicating a circular rather than linear continuity, and repeats, at the beginning of each chapter, the final sentence of the previous one, in addition to resuming, at all times, issues already dealt with.
The film also moves in a spiral, sometimes not respecting the order of the book — which is not a demerit, but demonstrates an understanding of the narrative structure that Clarice sets in motion. It is not by chance that the very image of the spiral is evoked at the opening of the film. The first time we see G.H., her figure appears distorted, spiraled, as if her body melted before our eyes, giving us to see the loss of the “human montage” of which she speaks.