Tall, dark, androgynously handsome Pierre wears eyeliner and a black lace g-string while having sex with both boys and girls. The confusion only goes deeper when the teenager’s single, working-class mom is arrested for having stolen him (and his “sister”) at birth. Thanks to the wonders of DNA, he’s returned to his biological parents: bourgeois, straight-laced and thrilled to have him back… at least until he shows up in a zebra-print mini dress. The turmoil of adolescence is plumbed with wit and compassion by writer/director Anna Muylaert in Don’t Call Me Son. Her earlier film, The Second Mother, also dealt with familial loyalty and class tensions. Actress Dani Nefussi gives completely believable knock-out performances as both mothers, and newcomer Naomi Nero defies expectations as a broodingly intense, potentially volcanic six-footer in stiletto heels.
Born in São Paulo in 1964, Muylaert studied cinema at ECA/USP where she directed many shorts, among them the awarded The Origin of Babies. She has directed the feature films Durval Discos, Collect Call and The Second Mother (which won the Special Jury Award for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Film in the Panorama Section at the Berlin Film Festival). The Second Mother was sold to over 30 countries. Formerly a film reviewer, she also collaborated on the scripts of the features The Year My Parents Went on Vacation and Xingu by director Cao Hamburger, the excellent and deeply underrated Futuro Beach by Karim Ainouz.