''Sexo, pudor y lágrimas'' (''Sex, Shame, and Tears'') is a Mexican romantic

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, the second of the so-called New Era of the

Cinema of Mexico The cinema of Mexico dates to the late nineteenth century during the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Seeing a demonstration of short films in 1896, Díaz immediately saw the importance of documenting his presidency in order to present an ...

(after '' Like Water for Chocolate'') and the

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

of Antonio Serrano. The film won five

Ariel Award The Ariel Award () is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), the award reco ...

s. The film is based on Serrano's stage play of the same name, which ran for two years. The film broke box-office records in Mexico, grossing MX$118 million (roughly US$11 million). It played for six months, and was seen by more than eight million people in Mexico alone.

Plot

Tomás returns to Mexico after a seven-year trip around the world, to visit his friends Carlos and Ana, a couple going through relationship problems. Ana is seduced by Tomás, who is also her ex-boyfriend, which causes Carlos to kick Tomás out of their home. Although instead of Tomás leaving, Ana leaves and moves across the street to the apartment of their friends Miguel and Andrea, another couple going through problems. The situation becomes a ''battle of the sexes'' when Miguel is kicked-out for cheating on Andrea and sent to live with the "guys" across the street and María, their friend, joins the "girls" in a

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

against all men. Tomas then has a fling with Andrea and gets caught in the act. After seeing the emptiness of his life, punctuated with him making a scene at a local nightclub, Tomas declares his love for Ana before apparently committing suicide by walking into an elevator shaft.

Alternate endings

In the Region 4 DVD version, several alternate final scenes are explored, including Tomas surviving the fall and emerging in a full body cast.

Cast

* Demián Bichir as Tomás * Susana Zabaleta as Ana * Jorge Salinas as Miguel * Cecilia Suárez as Andrea * Víctor Huggo Martin as Carlos *

Mónica Dionne Mónica Xóchitl Dionne Lazo (born February 7, 1967) is an American actress born in Waterbury, Connecticut. She is of Mexican descent. Dionne is best known for her roles in telenovelas produced by TV Azteca. She also acted in movies such as '' ...

as María

Sequel

The sequel, '' Sexo, pudor y lágrimas 2'' was released on February 4, 2022 on

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

. All the cast from the first film reprise their roles except for Demián Bichir, who appears in photographs and flashbacks.

Awards

* 42nd Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences: ** Best actress: Susana Zabaleta ** Art direction: Brigitte Broch ** Best original score ** Best original script ** Best setting * XIV

Guadalajara Film Festival The Guadalajara International Film Festival () is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara since 1986. The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other important festivals from around t ...

** Audience Award

References

External links

* *
Review
on the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' site
20 questions to Susana Zabaleta

DVD review

on Zinema.com

on the Mexican cinema site of

ITESM Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM; ), also known as Technological Institute of Monterrey () or just Tec, is aresearch university based in Monterrey, Mexico, which has grown to include 35 campuses located across 25 cit ...

1999 plays 1999 films 1999 comedy films Mexican comedy films Mexican plays 1990s Spanish-language films Estudios Churubusco films 1990s Mexican films 20th Century Fox films {{1990s-Mexico-film-stub