The film stars Regina Casé as Val, the housemaid of a wealthy family in São Paulo, and portrays the tensions that arise after her daughter Jéssica moves into the family's house in order to apply for an admission exam at the University of São Paulo.

It received critical praise in and outside Brazil and was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.

When Jéssica is nearing eighteen, Val receives a call from her asking if she can stay with her briefly while she studies and takes the entrance exam to the University of São Paulo.

Val, who lives in the house with the family she cleans for, asks them for permission to let Jéssica stay while she searches for an apartment for the two of them.

When Jéssica arrives, there is awkwardness and slowly developed tension as her presence begins to challenge the social class boundaries present in the home.

In showing his own views about class, when she initially refuses his proposal he replies with promises of gifts and exotic vacations.

Dona Barbara is enraged and orders Val to control her daughter and make sure that she does not enter the other side of the kitchen door.

As a final act of rebellion before rejoining her daughter, Val enters the swimming pool that has been off-limits for her entire tenure in the home.

Muylaert originally envisioned it before the release of her first feature film, Durval Discos (2002),[8] but she felt she was not capable of directing it at the time.

[8][9] Casé had an important role as she knew closely the reality of several Northeastern women who went to São Paulo to find a job, and Muylaert was cautious not to create a caricature of the central character.

[10] The main filming location of The Second Mother, shot in February 2014, was a mansion in Morumbi, an affluent neighborhood of São Paulo.

[2][8] The Second Mother premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival,[11] in which Casé and Camila Márdila shared the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting.

The website's critics consensus reads, "The Second Mother's compelling characters serve an artfully drawn, thought-provoking story that's beautifully brought to life by a talented cast.

"[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".