Elderly intimacy in Petra Costa’s Documentary Olhos de Ressaca

This article analyses how Brazilian director Petra Costa’s 2009 short documentary Olhos de Ressaca brings to the fore a frequently forgotten, often taboo topic: the intimacy of the elderly. Costa’s film thematically and aesthetically explores the intimacy of a couple in their eighties who have been married for decades. The documentary covers the full range of this period of life in a more open way than has been customary in film. Costa’s attentive and imaginative engagement with the topic is displayed in the film’s portrayal of skin, memory, and the way a couple’s intimacy changes over time.