Marginality, resilience and escape: Home in Ana Rocha de Sousa’s Listen

Abstract

Representations of the home are a central point for discussion in contemporary Portuguese cinema. From being a prime site for the understanding of gender inequality, to allowing for examinations of untamed urban expansion, the home has also featured in Portuguese films of the past decades as a proxy for social identity. The significance of the home for marginalised communities is the focus of this article, which examines Ana Rocha de Sousa’s Listen (2020). A Portuguese and British coproduction, Listen tells the story of a Portuguese immigrant family to the UK and their battle against social services, who take their children into custody. By presenting it as their last resource, as the space in which they are attacked but also reorganise for retaliation, Listen values the home not only as built infrastructure, but also as a signifier for unity, family and cultural and linguistic identity. Structured around three key plot points of the film that coincide with keywords featuring in recent feminist scholarship (marginality, resistance and escape), this article argues a discussion about global Portuguese cinema, and this film in particular, illuminates ongoing debates about the significance of the home and its relationship to class and gender in contemporary European film.