Farewell Amor

Farewell Amor starts at the end of a long separation from his wife and daughter. Walter has spent 17 long years in New York making a new life for his family. After the reunite, their time apart disrupts their reunion. His daughter, Sylvia, has lived a life without a father. They are strangers living under one roof together. His wife, Esther, has found a home in her Christian faith and is no longer the woman Walter knew back in Angola. Walter has also become a changed man by embracing freedoms in the United States and starting a new relationship. When his family arrives her struggles to end things, and both his wife and daughter are homesick. They keep their problems hidden until their physical closeness forces them into confrontation.


The film's point of view shifts from Walter to Sylvia and then Esther. Through this shift, audiences can gain an appreciation for the struggles each character goes through at different points in the story. Sylvia seems aloof and uninterested in connecting with her father from Walter's perspective. In her side of the story, audiences can see the panic she experiences in a new environment. Audiences see texts to friends back home and her secret love of dance that her mother has forbidden her to pursue. For Esther, she is insecure and vulnerable unsure if she can make her husband happy, or is there nothing left.


Writer-Director Ekwa Msangi uses attention to detail to construct this narrative. Their body language around one another is important. There are also subtle details such as Sylvia's aversion to her father is found in side-eyes and avoidance. They never say it outright but by their actions, it is easy to tell how they feel. Msangi shows us instead of telling us. These little details emphasize how time and distance have altered these relationships and the resent from Sylvia and Esther.


The distance feels like a character in the film. It sets the scene and gives everyone a secret they live with. Walter has a lover, Esther has a new community, and Sylvia is becoming independent. The distance is a shared trauma that they will have to work through in order to be a family.