Four Girls

Brazil, 1884. Tita, Muanda, Lena and Francisca, handmaidens to four pupils at a countryside boarding school, dream of freedom just to make it through the day. When an ill-advised romance puts Lena’s life in danger, their dreams of escape become a matter of necessity, and the four girls decide to run away. Their mistresses discover the plan – and to their surprise, insist on coming with them. The group takes shelter in an abandoned ranch house, where they face the challenges of their uncomfortable cohabitation. Freed from the traditional power structures, the Black girls savour agency, love and the possibility of a future on their own terms. Meanwhile, the whites resist learning to do the household chores and to look after themselves, and fail to answer for their own mistakes. When danger catches up with them all, they have to stand together in order to survive.