Under Juan Domingo Perón's regime the Argentine movie industry was subject to censorship. A movie could deal with the negative aspects of Argentine society as long as it made the point somewhere that these negative traits were being ameliorated by Perón's regime. This tended to stifle quality and inventiveness although some movies managed to buck the system. With the end of Perón's regime in 1955 censorship was relaxed and Argentine cinema experimented a renaissance in part influenced by the European movements such as Italian neorealism, the French nouvelle vague and the new Swedish cinema of Sjöberg and Bergman. These foreign influences did not prevent the making of movies centered in Argentine reality.
Director Simón Feldman is credited with two key movies of this period, El negoción (The Big Business, 1959) and Los de la Mesa 10 (The People at Table 10, 1960). Los de la Mesa 10 (based in a play by Osvaldo Dragún) deals with the problems of a newly constituted couple with marriage in mind. These problems are economic (the difficulty of being able to afford decent living conditions) and social (she is of a higher social level and her parents disapprove). The treatment is sincere and low key; Feldman skillfully opens up the play with exteriors so that we don't have the impression of filmed theater. Emilio Alfaro and María Aurelia Bisutti play the couple to perfection supported by an excellent cast. Outstanding black and white cinematography by Ricardo Aronovich (of later European fame) and music by tango great Horacio Salgán.
