RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Alice's House
Alice's House

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Alice's House (2007)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
90 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:27

Rotten:3

Average Rating:6.8/10

Consensus: Chico Teixeira's steady hand and unblinking, sympathetic eye -- along with Carla Ribas' breathtaking performance -- make this portrait of working-class Brazilian life extraordinary.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jan 25, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: Brazilian documentary filmmaker Chico Teixeira brings a refreshingly natural touch to ALICE'S HOUSE, a working class drama about personal and family betrayal. Forty-ish manicurist Alice (Carla... Brazilian documentary filmmaker Chico Teixeira brings a refreshingly natural touch to ALICE'S HOUSE, a working class drama about personal and family betrayal. Forty-ish manicurist Alice (Carla Ribas) works long hours at the beauty parlor, only to return to a cramped Sao Paulo apartment she inhabits with her brutish husband Lindomar (Zecarlos Machado), three disrespectful sons, and her ailing mother. Struggling daily against such densely packed machismo, Alice is blind to the secrets simmering beneath her family's mundane existence. This includes her eldest son turning tricks with older men and her husband's affairs with teenage girls. Alice is soon drawn into her own web of infidelity by the reappearance of an old high school flame. As truths finally boil to the surface Alice must choose between a painful new reality and her desperate romantic hopes. Unlike the urban violence of recent Brazilian successes (CITY OF GOD, BUS 174), ALICE'S HOUSE is a quietly moving, warts-and-all observation of love, sex, and deception. Director Teixeira employs an intimate, true-to-life style that puts the film's focus squarely on the mercurial emotions and loyalties of its characters. Lauded throughout Latin America, ALICE'S HOUSE reveals how pride isolates a family from itself, and that only truth can lead you back on the road to healing. [More]

Starring: Carla Ribas, Vinicius Zinn, Ricardo Vilaça, Felipe Massuia

Starring: Carla Ribas, Vinicius Zinn, Ricardo Vilaça, Felipe Massuia, Berta Zemel, Zécarlos Machado, Luciano Quirino

Director: Chico Teixeira

Director: Chico Teixeira
Screenwriter: Chico Teixeira, Julio Pessoa, Sabina Anzuategui, Marcelo Gomes
Producer: Patrick Leblanc
Studio: Vitagraph Films

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
1 - 5 of 15

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Alice's House

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Bubble View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato
8/10

Nora Lee Mandel

Builds a quiet portrait of a family step-by-step imploding. Such a sympathetic depiction of working-class families are rarely seen on screen from any country.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 23 2008 07:53 AM

Film-Forward.com

tomato
3/4

Rene Rodriguez

First-time director Chico Teixeira, an accomplished maker of documentaries in Brazil, brings a similar nonfiction feel to this melodramatic milieu, which is kick-started when Alice contemplates having an affair of her own with a former sweetheart.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 18 2008 12:38 PM

Miami Herald

tomato
2.5/4

Susan Walker

Nothing much happens in Alice's House, and a turning point in the plot is terribly contrived, but as sociology and maybe even a pilot for a soap serial, the movie is worth a look.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 11 2008 12:59 PM

Toronto Star

tomato
3/5

Liz Braun

Alice's House is character driven, and the performances are key.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 11 2008 12:58 PM

Jam! Movies

splat
1.5/5

Joseph Proimakis

mia ap' aytes tis tainies poy den se noiazei an emfanistei enas pistolas apo to dipla gyrisma na toys gazosei oloys, arkei na teleiosei. Kai telika, kapos etsi ginetai.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 06 2008 02:42 AM

Movies for the Masses

tomato

Desson Thomson

Even though it sounds awfully depressing, there's something moving about watching people go at their lives with everything they have -- or don't have.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 10 2008 04:49 PM

Washington Post

tomato
3/4

Larry Ratliff

Very well-acted, especially by (Carla) Ribas, this is a tense drama of friendship, family and deceit that explores a wide spectrum of raw emotions.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 07 2008 12:27 PM

San Antonio Express-News

tomato
2.5/4

Peter Keough

[The] restrained, elliptical style, focused on details rather than confrontations, and the nuanced performances make this house a home.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 02 2008 01:35 PM

Boston Phoenix

tomato
3/4

Ty Burr

Like a Brazilian telenovela unfolding in real time, the film fans its cards out slowly until we can see for ourselves the deck is stacked.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 14 2008 01:57 PM

Boston Globe

tomato

Beth Accomando

Teixeira brings his camera into her home and quietly records the details of her daily life. The result is a carefully observed film about one woman's growing dissatisfaction.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 05 2008 11:39 PM

KPBS.org

tomato

David D'Arcy

[Director Chico] Texeira's ordinary characters have a quiet genuineness and clarity that is rare anywhere in movies these days.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 25 2008 11:54 AM

Screen International

tomato
B

Joe Williams

Although the characters are steeped in the culture of telenovelas and voodoo superstition, Alice's House is a subtly flavorful slice of life rather than a steamy potboiler.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 25 2008 11:41 AM

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

tomato
4/6

Monika Fabian

The capable cast, director’s documentarian past and ambient soundtrack heighten the film’s real-life sensibility, perfectly capturing the working-class life of a São Paulo family.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 25 2008 11:33 AM

Time Out New York

tomato
B

Bill White

In her first leading role, Carla Ribas joins the fast-growing ranks of middle-aged Latina actresses whose performances resonate with a beguiling mixture of emotional complexity and sexual maturity.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 22 2008 12:32 PM

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

tomato
3/4

Jeff Shannon

In a remarkably assured, no-frills feature debut, Brazilian documentarian Chico Teixeira draws a vivid portrait of marital and familial dysfunction.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 22 2008 12:30 PM

Seattle Times

tomato

Andy Klein

Ribas has justifiably won a shelf of awards for her portrayal.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 07 2008 05:37 AM

Los Angeles CityBeat

tomato

John P. McCarthy

The juiciest bits happen off camera, yet their consequences are riveting, thanks in no small measure to sympathetic performances by Carla Ribas and Berta Zemel.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 06 2008 10:19 AM

Boxoffice Magazine

tomato
3/4

Ken Fox

The gritty location shooting, the absence of a soundtrack and the casting of non-professionals in key roles help capture an all-important sense of place with almost documentary precision.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 25 2008 12:27 PM

TV Guide's Movie Guide

tomato
3/4

David Wiegand

Teixeira elicits extraordinary performances from his entire cast.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 25 2008 12:25 PM

San Francisco Chronicle

tomato
3/4

V.A. Musetto

Writer-director Chico Teixeira, who started out making documentaries, watches from afar as his middle-class characters go about their day-in, day-out activities, most of which revolve around sex.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 25 2008 12:23 PM

New York Post

 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Bubble View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Alice's House

January 24, 2008: Critics Consensus: Rambo is No Rocky, Guess Meet the Spartans Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got vigilante justice, internet intrigue, deft dancing, and Spartan satires. What do the critics have to say? More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
6
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
14
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
10
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
116
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
176
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
130
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
97
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
72
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
58
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
35
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
21
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
18
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
9
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Alice's House at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

AV Club looks at a beloved cult classic, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness.

New Moon Portraits
New Moon Portraits External Link

TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.

Unsexiest Men Alive
Unsexiest Men Alive External Link

Moviefone lists their choices for the least attractive men in Hollywood.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.