Paolla Oliveira stars in psychological horror; director explains casting

National psychological horror cinema gains a new title on July 9th with the premiere of "The Inheritance of Narcissa". Starring Paolla Oliveira, 44, the film promises to captivate the audience not only with the classic atmosphere of suspense, but with the visceral delivery of the protagonist, who faces the challenge of playing two roles in the same plot.

On screen, the public follows Ana's painful return to her old childhood home, in Rio de Janeiro, shortly after the death of her mother, the former star Narcisa. What should be just a process of goodbye and immobile organization turns into a true silent nightmare.

Among rooms full of dust and mystery, the protagonist and her brother, Diego (Pedro Henrique Müller), revisit the past, awakening old traumas, fears and anxieties that seemed buried. To get out of this emotional maze, Ana is forced to face the scars of a deeply toxic relationship.

The choice of the actress for the project was born from an idea shared between directors Clarissa Appelt and Daniel Dias and producer Eduardo Albergaria, from Urca Filmes, who used his long proximity to the artist to create the initial bridge.

"I've always really liked her work. I think there's a connection there in a certain way in the sense that she would play both roles. That's already cool for the cast as a whole, and it plays a little with this public and private figure", Clarissa tells CNN Brasil.

In addition to the game of mirrors, the script offered Paolla the chance to explore artistic nuances still little seen in her career in television, cinema and streaming, accustomed to roles of great magnetism and vivacity.

"The film explores a place she wasn't very used to. It's a more introspective role, which is Ana. A more contained, down, grumpy role", adds the director.

The fit was immediate. Upon receiving the script to read, the actress deeply identified with the dramatic layers of the story. "She read it and loved it. She really connected with the issue of family psychoanalysis, of mother and daughter", says Appelt.

"The Inheritance of Narcissa" opens in theaters on July 9th - Disclosure/Olhar Filmes
"'The Inheritance of Narcisa' is a therapy horror", says director
Doing the trick so that the suspense doesn't overwhelm the drama was one of the great exercises of the production. According to Clarissa, Paolla's own connection with the more emotional side of the story helped dictate the film's ideal tone, uniting the director's taste for the genre with the dramatic flair of her writing and directing partner, Daniel.

"This film from the beginning has a little bit of both. Paolla connected more with the drama side, and that helped us to calibrate that. I really like horror, and Daniel comes more from the drama, so we balanced it out", points out Clarissa.

"We want to make a horror that isn't just a horror. For a long time, the genre was literalized, it became a somewhat superficial thing, with scares, gore, creepy images, and in the end everyone dies. Horror is very rich, it has the power to mess with the subconscious. When we work on psychological issues, it captures the audience better", he guarantees.

The director also delivers that the film piggybacks on a recent wave of productions that revive classic psychological horror to illustrate the type of lasting impact it wants to have on the viewer. It's a cinema made to move those who watch, and not just scare people in the dark room.

"We've been joking and calling it 'terror therapy', or 'healing horror'. It's a film with a proposed cathartic, emotional ending. I joke: you're coming to see a horror film, but you're actually going to leave crying. It's a trap! It's a drama that comes with this terror, but delivers real terror. We have a classic structure, horror scenes, all of that, but we touch on the emotional and psychological aspects."

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Source: CNN