Winner of the Un Certain Regard award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the latest feature from director Karim Aïnouz, set in mid-century Rio de Janeiro, is a modern melodrama about feminine resilience. Based on Martha Batalha’s beloved novel, Invisible Life retains the unfettered sensuality and sumptuous splendor that render his films uniquely transporting. Kept apart by a terrible lie, years pass as two sisters forge their respective paths through their city’s teeming bustle, each believing the other to be half a world away. Culminating in an affecting cameo from Oscar nominee Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station), Aïnouz’s stirring epic of winding paths that fail to intersect balances cruel irony with carnal abandon and tenacious love. Invisible Life is Brazil’s entry to the Academy Awards.