The Coffee Set

Abstract

This video essay focuses on the representation of a black and white coffee set in four sequences of Que horas ela volta (Anna Muylaert, 2015). While throughout the film the mismatched colors seem to celebrate the possibility of class mobility and interracial relations, the unexpected final rearrangement—white cups with white saucers and black cups with black saucers—alludes to the persistence of the status quo in Brazil despite the individual success of the two protagonists.