The audience wants people who are real. This cast is pulsing.
Há diretoras que filmam o que está escrito; Amora Mautner filma o que ainda não existe. Com cinquenta anos de vida e trinta e um de TV Globo, ela estreou em 18 de maio 'Quem Ama Cuida', uma telenovela construída sobre neurociência, ilusionismo analógico e a crença de que a verdade de um personagem mora nas pequenas manias de quem o interpreta. Num momento em que o digital domina a produção televisiva, Mautner escolhe o caminho mais lento e mais humano — o da criação que acontece ao vivo, diante das câmeras, sem rede de proteção.
- A novela estreia com São Paulo submersa: uma enchente histórica destrói a vida de Adriana logo no primeiro capítulo, estabelecendo um tom de perda real e irreversível.
- Mautner recusa chroma key, efeitos digitais e qualquer atalho de pós-produção — a pressão para entregar imagens cinematográficas sem as ferramentas convencionais é enorme e deliberada.
- O assassinato de Arthur Brandão, entre os capítulos treze e quatorze, instala um mistério que vai puxar a narrativa para frente, criando tensão acumulada desde os primeiros episódios.
- A diretora aplica neurociência à montagem — cada corte calculado para onde o olho humano vai em três segundos — e questionários de oitenta perguntas para extrair verdade dos atores antes mesmo de começar a filmar.
- Se o público não gostar, ela brincou que para de fazer novelas; mas a seriedade do método revela alguém que sabe exatamente o que construiu e aposta tudo nisso.
Amora Mautner não deixa atores chegarem ao set com a performance pronta. Ela rasga as anotações nas margens do roteiro e chama o que faz de 'gira' — uma criação viva que acontece no calor do momento, diante das câmeras. Foi assim que dirigiu 'Avenida Brasil', onde personagens falavam ao mesmo tempo e sofriam e celebravam no mesmo cômodo, porque é assim que a vida funciona.
Em 18 de maio, sua nova novela 'Quem Ama Cuida' estreou no horário das nove da TV Globo. A história começa com São Paulo destruída por uma enchente histórica. Adriana, fisioterapeuta vivida por Letícia Colin, perde a casa e o marido Carlos, arrastado e morto pela água. O texto é de Walcyr Carrasco e Cláudia Souto, mas a textura — o jeito que vai doer assistir — é de Mautner.
Para preparar o elenco, ela distribuiu um questionário de oitenta perguntas sobre a vida pessoal de cada ator. Não sobre os personagens: sobre eles mesmos. Chay Suede mencionou vício em chocolate quente; Mautner transferiu o hábito para Pedro, seu personagem, como sinal de quem sempre recebeu o que quis. Com Isabel Teixeira, que interpreta a antagonista Pilar, o trabalho foi inverso: enquanto precisava arrancar performance de alguns, com ela precisava aparar, limpar o excesso, deixar a vilania respirar dentro da teoria aristotélica da catarse.
A linguagem visual bebe de Frank Capra, Hitchcock, Bong Joon-ho — cuja 'Parasita' inspirou a enchente inicial —, Roy Andersson e Douglas Sirk. O assassinato de Arthur Brandão, vivido por Antônio Fagundes, acontece entre os capítulos treze e quatorze e vai mover o mistério central da trama.
Mautner rejeitou chroma key e manipulação digital. Em vez disso, criou o 'Projet Méliès', batizado em homenagem ao pioneiro do cinema de truques: ilusões ópticas e artifícios físicos construídos dentro do próprio estúdio para simular São Paulo a partir do Rio. Para a montagem, aplica conceitos de neurociência que estuda há quatorze anos — no primeiro capítulo, removeu elementos de cenas inteiras porque o olho do espectador não encontraria Adriana em três segundos, o tempo do plano. Falhar nisso seria falhar na função dramática da própria imagem.
Amora Mautner, fifty years into her life and thirty-one into her career at TV Globo, has never been one to let actors arrive on set with their performance already decided. She tears up the scripts they bring, the ones with stage directions written in the margins. She calls what she does a "gira"—a spinning, a living creation that happens in the heat of the moment, in front of the cameras, with the crew watching. This is the woman who directed "Avenida Brasil," the novela that made chaos feel like truth, where characters talked over each other and suffered and celebrated in the same room at the same time, because that is how life actually works.
On Monday, May 18th, her new novela "Quem Ama Cuida" premiered on TV Globo's nine o'clock slot. The story begins with a São Paulo destroyed by historic flooding. Adriana, a physiotherapist played by Letícia Colin, loses everything—her home, and her husband Carlos, played by Jesuíta Barbosa, who is swept away and killed by the water. The script came from Walcyr Carrasco and Cláudia Souto. But the direction, the texture, the way it will feel to watch—that belongs to Mautner.
To prepare her actors, she distributed a questionnaire with eighty questions about their personal lives. Not about their characters. About them. What do they eat? What books do they read? What are their habits? Chay Suede, who plays Pedro, mentioned he is addicted to drinking hot chocolate. Mautner put that into his character—a small detail that suggests he is spoiled, that he has been given things. These are the kinds of choices that make a performance feel like it came from somewhere real.
Isabel Teixeira plays Pilar, the antagonist, a woman of several faces, some of them violent. Mautner drew on Aristotle's concept of catharsis to shape her—a villain who is not simply evil but complex, capable of generating the kind of emotional release that comes from witnessing something true and terrible. Working with Teixeira required a different approach than with other actors. "Our problem is excess," Mautner told her. While she had to pull performances out of some actors, with Teixeira she had to trim, to clean away the unnecessary.
The visual language of the novela borrows from cinema. Frank Capra's overlapping dialogue and naturalistic action. Alfred Hitchcock's suspense and precise editing to build tension. Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite," which inspired the flooding that opens the story. Roy Andersson's singular eye for composition. Douglas Sirk's melodramatic structure. The murder of Arthur Brandão, played by Antônio Fagundes, happens early—between chapters thirteen and fourteen—and the mystery of who killed him will pull the story forward.
Mautner has rejected the digital shortcuts common in television. No chroma key. No green screen. No post-production image manipulation. Instead, she and her team are using what they call the "Projet Méliès," named after the French filmmaker who pioneered visual effects in cinema. They are building optical illusions and physical tricks inside the studio itself. The goal is to make it look like they are filming in São Paulo when they are actually in Rio, to show what their studios can do when you trust them.
For the editing and assembly of the novela, Mautner applies concepts from neuroscience, a field she has studied for fourteen years. She thinks about how the brain works, where the eye goes, how long it takes to find something on screen. In the first chapter, she removed elements from scenes because viewers would not be able to locate Adriana in three seconds—the length of the shot. If she had not done that, she would have failed in the dramatic function of the image itself.
Two main ensembles carry the story. One centers on Adriana, with Tony Ramos, Nathalia Dill, and Allan Souza Lima. The other centers on Brandão, with Tatá Werneck, Agatha Moreira, and José Loreto. When asked if she believed in the project, Mautner laughed and said that if the audience does not like it, she might quit making novelas altogether. But she was joking. She knows what she has made. She knows it is alive.
Notable Quotes
I don't work with premeditated actors. I once worked with an actress who arrived with everything written down: 'Stand up, walk, sit down.' I tore it up. I'm not a civil servant, I'm an artist.— Amora Mautner
If the audience doesn't like this, I think I'll quit making novelas.— Amora Mautner (joking)
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why start with the flood? Why not begin with the murder?
Because the flood is what breaks everything open. It's not just plot—it's the thing that forces every character to show who they really are. When you lose your house, when you lose your husband to water, you can't hide anymore.
You mentioned the eighty-question questionnaire. Doesn't that feel invasive? Why not just let actors imagine their characters' lives?
Because imagination is often just repetition of what you've seen before. If you ask someone what's actually in their refrigerator, what they actually read, you get specificity. You get the texture of a real person. That's what Mautner is after—not invention, but truth.
The "Projet Méliès" rejects digital effects entirely. Isn't that limiting? Doesn't it make the work harder?
It makes it harder, yes. But that's the point. When you can't hide behind a screen, you have to build the world with your hands. You have to trust the space you're in. It's more honest.
Neuroscience in editing seems like a strange tool for a telenovela. How does that actually work?
It's about understanding where the eye naturally goes, how long the brain needs to process an image. If you put a character in red in a wide shot for three seconds, they need to be visible in the first second, or the viewer will miss them. It's not about emotion—it's about the mechanics of attention.
Mautner said she might quit if this doesn't work. Do you think she means it?
No. But I think she means that she's betting everything on this approach. She's saying: this is what I believe television should be. If you don't want it, then maybe we're not speaking the same language anymore.