Reaching for the Moon (2013) Movie Review

『A passionate story of two women where art, love, and wounds intertwine』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Reaching for the Moon (Original title: Flores Raras, 2013)
🌍 Country: 🇧🇷 Brazil / 🇺🇸 USA
🎞️ Genre: Based on a true story / Queer Romance / Drama
🗓️ Production & Release: Globo Filmes, LC Barreto Productions
⏳ Runtime: 118 minutes
📢 Director: Bruno Barreto
🖋️ Screenplay: Matthew Chapman, Julie Sayres, Carolina Kotscho
📖 Original Work: 《Flores Raras e Banalíssimas》 by Carmem L. Oliveira
📺 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and other major international VOD services

👩‍💼 Cast: Miranda Otto – Elizabeth Bishop
Gloria Pires – Lota de Macedo Soares
Tracy Middendorf – Mary Morse

🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)

🎭 The Encounter of Two Artists and Their Inevitable Attraction

1950s Brazil — American poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to South America in search of new inspiration. There, she meets Brazilian city planner and architect Lota de Macedo Soares, a woman of fierce charisma and passion. Despite their vastly different backgrounds and personalities, the two gradually fall into a fervent relationship.

💕 Love, Conflict, and the Complexity of a Triangle

The love between Elizabeth and Lota is intense but complicated. As Lota continues her long-standing relationship with Mary, a love triangle develops, causing tension and conflict between the women. Lota’s domineering and possessive nature exacerbates Elizabeth’s inner turmoil, driving her toward alcoholism, and the relationship begins to deteriorate.

🥀 Separation and the Artistic Legacy Left Behind

Eventually, their love comes to an end, and Elizabeth returns to the United States. Yet their relationship is immortalized in her poetry collection Geography III and in her Pulitzer Prize win. Meanwhile, Lota faces political turmoil in Brazil and personal tragedies, ultimately leading to a lonely and tragic end. Their love and wounds leave a lasting resonance across time and culture.

🦋 Emotional Resonance and Meaning of the Work

🌴 A Journey of Self-Discovery

Flores Raras tells the true 15-year love story of Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Elizabeth Bishop and pioneering Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Beyond being a simple romantic biopic, the film is a psychological drama that delicately portrays how the brilliance of two artists—their dazzling creativity and devastating self-destruction—intersected and clashed against the backdrop of Brazil’s turbulent political landscape.

🌿 The Dynamics of Relationship: Sparks Born of Opposites

The film centers on the stark contrast between its two heroines and the paradoxical attraction this contrast creates.

• Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto): Introverted, timid, plagued by alcoholism and writer’s block, she embodies the stifled genius. Like her delicate poetry, her life is quiet and repressed.
• Lota de Macedo Soares (Gloria Pires): Confident, wealthy, and charismatic, she pursues what she desires relentlessly. She openly expresses her desire for Bishop, breaking into her closed-off world.

Though initially opposites, the two form a miraculous balance as Lota offers Bishop unconditional devotion. Lota’s love reignites Bishop’s creative potential, enabling her to overcome her slump and win the Pulitzer Prize. Yet this relationship was built on a fragile foundation of one as “savior” and the other as “the saved”. As Lota’s energy transforms into obsessive control and Bishop’s alcoholism deepens, the relationship spirals into mutual destruction.

💔 Creative Inspiration and Tragic Loss: “One Art”

The film’s most profound theme is tied to one of Bishop’s masterpieces, the poem “One Art”. The poem begins with the line, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master”, ultimately acknowledging that even the most precious things can be lost.

Source of Inspiration: Through Lota, Bishop regains the vitality and inspiration she had lost. Lota taught her “how to see the world.”

The Cost of Tragedy: Yet Lota’s unconditional love gradually turns into control and obsession. When Bishop attempts to return to her own world (teaching in New York), Lota suffers a mental breakdown. If Bishop nearly lost herself to gain love, Lota entirely lost herself in the attempt to hold on to it.

The Completion of Loss: Lota’s tragic death delivers Bishop her most painful loss, but paradoxically completes her artistic universe. Through Lota, Bishop masters the art of love and loss.

🎬 Mise-en-Scène and Historical Context: Brazil’s Beautiful Symbolism

Director Bruno Barreto uses Brazil’s dazzling landscapes and architecture of the 1950s and 1960s as a backdrop to amplify the women’s turbulent emotions.

Political Turmoil: Lota’s ambitious Flamengo Park project is undermined by Brazil’s military coup, symbolizing how her personal downfall was inseparable from the pressures of her era, adding weight to her eventual collapse.

Samanbaia Estate: The house Lota designed and shared with Mary symbolizes her controlled and perfected world. Bishop’s act of settling and writing there signifies that her talent could only bloom under Lota’s protection and control—underscoring the relationship’s inherent lack of freedom.

Like Bishop’s poetry, their meeting and parting embodied one of life’s most important and painful “arts.” Reaching for the Moon is an outstanding biographical film showing how love can be both the greatest force of creation and the most devastating cause of destruction. Instead of consuming their relationship through explicit eroticism, the film highlights their love and desire through the lens of poetry and architecture, giving it an intellectual and profound depth.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥♥
⭐ Overall Rating: ★★★★★