LITTLE HOUSE ON THE FAVELA

In January of 2001, Thierry (34), a depressed French man rides through poverty-stricken streets in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he’s been sent on business. His prying taxi driver learns Thierry is divorced and has no kids.

In a small apartment, gorgeous Andrea (27) tends to her 3 daughters – Maria (10) by one father, and Caroline (6) and Laura (2) by another. Despite the girls’ protests, Andrea and her driver/bodyguard/friend Edison drop the girls off with their grandma, who all but laughs in Andrea’s face when she asks for money.

Thierry checks into his posh hotel, then wanders the city thinking of his ex, Danielle. Meanwhile, Andrea makes her money as a prostitute.

The 2 strangers converge in an empty nightclub and are immediately taken by one another, dancing and seducing, and eventually going back to Thierry’s hotel. They make passionate love all week, and Andrea refuses his money. Thierry tells her he will be in town a lot over the next few months, and he wants to spend as much time with her as possible; next time, he wants to stay at her place. She insists it’s not up to his standards, but he won’t take no for an answer.

Andrea brings Thierry home, and sure enough, he’s caught off-guard when he realizes Andrea has 3 daughters. She leaves him there with the girls as she goes off to work that night, much to his dismay. When she returns, Thierry tells Andrea he wants her to stop having sex for money and let him support her and the kids – like a real family. She promises to stop entertaining customers.

Weeks pass, and Thierry grows more comfortable with their situation, treating the girls like they were his own – especially Caroline, who bares a coincidental resemblance to him. The girls dress him up to look more Brazilian, and his Portuguese grows progressively better. He’s blending, and he’s happy. Thierry learns more about Andrea’s past, how she became lost at a young age and had to survive on her own. Her survival instincts are strong, to a fault.

As usual, Edison drives Thierry in to work each day. His pretty coworker Raphaela hits on him, and Thierry awkwardly has to turn her down; he keeps his life with Andrea and the girls hidden. As he tells Edison, water and oil don’t mix. Thierry stops at an ATM on the way home and is assaulted by 2 men. Edison comes to his rescue and beats the thieves up.

It’s now May, and Thierry is back in Paris. He runs into his ex Danielle at the post office while trying to wire money to Andrea. Danielle is heavily pregnant with her new man’s baby – and has been trying to reach Thierry since he has completely emptied their joint account to support Andrea. Back at the office, Thierry’s intimidating boss Mr. Piuch checks in on proceedings in Brazil, putting the pressure on Thierry. At the same time, Andrea calls, sobbing that some men just stole the money he wired to her. Thierry is torn between his two worlds.

Andrea reveals to her good friend Tatiana that she’s pregnant, but doesn’t think she will tell Thierry. On Thierry’s next trip to Brazil, his seatmate warns him about Brazilian women; his screwed him over so badly that he now has to extract his son from the country. Thierry returns to Andrea, although the distance now seems to be gnawing on their relationship. He wants to buy her a house. When Thierry presses about Andrea’s sexual experiences, she shocks him into silence.

They go to check out a house; it’s nice enough, but small, and sits on a polluted river in a bad part of town too far away from their old place. Andrea doesn’t want it, insisting she could do better if she were still working, but Thierry insists. While back in Paris briefly, Thierry calls Danielle to congratulate her on her new baby. It stings because, as she throws back at him, he forced her to abort their child years ago when they had no money.

Thierry’s boss isn’t sure Thierry has much work left to do in Brazil, but Thierry fights to continue his trips back and forth. Thierry returns to Brazil, and Andrea has set up a party to show off the new house. The couple grows increasingly short with one another. In front of everyone, Thierry demands a thank you from Andrea for the house, and she won’t oblige, saying she never wanted it. She admits she had an abortion, which tears Thierry up inside. More weeks go by, and they grow more distant; Andrea feels Thierry’s not there enough, and he feels he tries as hard as he can.

Thierry gives a lackluster performance at work, and when a Secretary accidentally spills hot coffee on him, he throws a fit in front of everyone. When Thierry and Andrea go grocery shopping, his card is declined. Raphaela is there and happy to lend him some cash, but tells him his project has been terminated. He’ll no longer be working in Brazil. Back in Paris, Mr. Piuch scolds Thierry, who tries desperately to get Mr. Piuch on a plane to Brazil to win the project back.

On September 10th, Thierry surprises Andrea; Mr. Piuch has agreed to come to town. But it’s clear Andrea is acting strangely, and we see a man, Carlos (Caroline / Laura’s father), hiding outside the window. Thierry oversleeps the next day, pissing Mr. Piuch even more. When they finally get to the office late, they learn about the 9/11 attacks, and the buildings are evacuated just in case. Thierry races off to be with Andrea and the girls and, catching Andrea off-guard, realizes she is taking care of a new baby – Carlos’ girlfriend’s baby. And that must mean she’s back with Carlos.

That night, Thierry gets a call from Andrea, crying, saying she’s just been jumped. Edison comes over to get Thierry, and
they go in search of Andrea. They find her, but the thieves from the ATM show up – with more friends this time. Thierry covers Andrea while Edison fights off the men and is stabbed fatally. Andrea runs off while Thierry holds Edison as he dies. Thierry, bloody, runs through the alleyways to find Andrea. Thierry accuses Andrea of being ungrateful, but she counters that he only wanted the illusion of a family – and when the work got too hard, he wasn’t there.

A few years later, Thierry returns to the little home he once shared with Andrea, now accompanied by his French wife and their young son. He sees Andrea with the girls and Carlos – still together – and Thierry returns to his own real family.