Mid-19th century, rural São Paulo, interior of Brazil. Maria lives in the countryside, where she has never left, and says she is “the daughter of a twist of fate”, an expression she believes to be her surname. She marries the only son of a plantation owner – a violent, widowed, and disillusioned man who lost another son tragically and desires an heir. He keeps her prisoner while her husband, a hedonist, spends what remains of their fortune on trips to Paris without her. Kept under the watch of an enslaved man, she seduces him in a quest for freedom and identity. Inspired by the novella “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”, by Russian writer Nikolai Leskov.

First worldwide screening at the 50th Mostra.