A family lives in the Mexican countryside raising fighting bulls. Esther is in charge of running the ranch, while her husband Juan, a world-renowned poet, raises and selects the beasts. Although in an open marriage, their relationship begins to crumble when Esther falls in love with an American horsebreaker and Juan is unable to control his jealousy.
Direction
Reygadas casts himself and his actual wife. Method or madness?
Cinematography
Wide-angle nature that swallows human drama whole.
Acting
Non-actors bleeding real life into fiction.
Director
Carlos Reygadas
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Reygadas and López were actually married during filming; their real children play their on-screen children. The dissolution of their marriage shortly after release makes the film feel like a document of collapse.
The film sparked walkouts at Cannes 2018, with critics split between 'masterpiece of vulnerability' and 'narcissistic home video.' It's become a litmus test for how much autobiography audiences will tolerate from auteurs.
MX
