Elize Shadows of a Woman Filming Locations and Cast Details

Elize: Shadows of a Woman is not built as a mystery about who killed Marcos Matsunaga. The outcome is already known. Instead, director Felipe Vellas follows the marriage that came before it, tracing Elize’s move from a difficult upbringing into the protected world of a wealthy food-industry heir. What initially resembles a modern fairy tale curdles under infidelity, control and violence, eventually reaching the 2012 murder that stunned Brazil. Lorena Comparato plays Elize opposite Henrique Kimura as Marcos in the Netflix psychological crime drama.

The film premiered on Netflix on July 22, 2026. Written by Raphael Montes and Mariana Torres, it uses fiction to examine the relationship and the choices surrounding the crime rather than simply restaging a familiar police timeline.

São Paulo, Brazil

Elize: Shadows of a Woman was filmed in Brazil, with production concentrated in and around São Paulo. Reports indicate that principal photography ran from May to August 2025 under the working title Uma Garota de Classe. São Paulo was not used as a substitute for another city. The story is rooted there, and the production retained the city’s dense residential towers, affluent interiors and crowded streets.

No complete address-by-address location list has been released. The safest confirmed description is therefore São Paulo and its surrounding area, rather than a collection of supposedly identified buildings based only on visual resemblance.

The Matsunaga Apartment

The couple’s apartment is the movie’s most important interior. It begins as evidence of Elize’s arrival in a world of extraordinary privilege, then gradually becomes a closed and hostile space as the marriage deteriorates.

The real crime occurred in a penthouse in Vila Leopoldina, in São Paulo’s western zone. However, neither Netflix nor the producers have confirmed that the movie filmed inside the actual building. The screen apartment should be treated as a recreated production location unless the location department states otherwise. The real property remains a private residence and should not be presented as a public film attraction.

Vila Leopoldina and Cotia

Vila Leopoldina belongs to the true story, but it is not currently a confirmed shooting neighborhood. The same distinction applies to Cotia, the Greater São Paulo municipality where parts of Marcos’ body were discovered in a wooded area.

The movie includes the urban, roadside and forested geography associated with the case, but public production reports have not identified the exact road, woodland or rural property used for those scenes. Claiming that they were filmed at the real Cotia discovery site would go beyond the available evidence.

That uncertainty does not mean the location information is empty. It suggests that the filmmakers reconstructed the case through controlled locations around São Paulo, preserving the city’s identity without turning notorious private addresses into attractions.

Filming Dates

Principal photography reportedly began in May 2025 and continued for roughly three months, finishing in August. Boutique Filmes produced the feature after previously making the Netflix documentary series Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime, which covered the same case through interviews and archival material.

Elize Shadows of a Woman Cast

Lorena Comparato leads the film as Elize Matsunaga, while Henrique Kimura portrays Marcos Matsunaga. The cast also includes Denise Weinberg, Miwa Yanagizawa, Julia Shimura, Gustavo Falcão, Flora Sandyá, Edson Kameda, Arthur Toyoshima and Julia Konrad.

For now, São Paulo is the only firmly reported production center. More precise locations may eventually emerge through crew portfolios or behind-the-scenes releases, but Vila Leopoldina and Cotia should be described as real-case locations, not confirmed filming sites.