'Sexo por compasión' (COMPASSIONATE SEX) is a rare little film created in 2000 by Spanish director and writer Laura Mañá that dares to address controversial issues of marital fidelity, the 'oldest profession in the world', the impotence of a Catholic priest in holding his community together, and the irresistible importance of physical discourse in mending misconceptions and misunderstandings. Quite a challenge taking on all of these topics, but Laura Mañá has the skills to pull it off with the use of 'magical realism' and alluring cinematic knowledge and techniques. The final product is a joy! The setting is a small village (either in Spain or Mexico, we are not told exactly) on the verge of dying due to the bland boredom and blanket sadness of the town folk, the lack of children being born and in general due to a languorous malaise. The film is shot not in black and white but varying shades of gray. Dolores (Elisabeth Margoni) is an overweight childless woman obsessed with doing good deeds for others, a fact that drives her husband Manolo (José Sancho) berserk, threatening that if Dolores is unable to come up with an act that demands his forgiveness he will abandon her. Dolores seeks advice from the village priest (Juan Carlos Colombo) in confessional, but the haughty padre is angered by the fact that Dolores daily visits the confessional with nothing to confess. He tells her to go out and sin and then he will be able to hear her confession! Manolo leaves and the devastated Dolores is encouraged to move into the tavern owned by Floren (Mariola Fuentes) and with the loving advice of her friends she hears that the town is dying because the married couples are depressed. The sensitive Dolores hears from both the men and the women and under the pseudonym of Lolita, she invites the husbands to her new bed for free advice, consensual sex and enrichment. Lolita has discovered the source of the town's sadness and soon has slept with every man and keeps her free nurturing going while the women of the village marvel at how their husbands have changed for the better. At this point the town becomes alive, lovely, flowers grow, etc and the film is now in color.
Seeing the changes that have occurred drives the priest to build a cross and perform a ritual crucifixion! The women find Manolo and tell him how the town has changed and why - and the fact that all of the villagers consider Dolores/Lolita a saint. Manolo returns, is enraged, gathers the men together to convince them his wife is a prostitute and the town's life and joy return to the gray of black and white film. The women of the village are convinced that Manolo must be informed as to the sacrifice Lolita has been making and in order to do so they visit Manolo's humble house and line up for a toss in the hay with Manolo: after only several of the many women exit the house with smiles and gleams of physical satisfaction, Manolo weakly emerges admitting that such a process is indeed a sacrifice! How the village manages this mutual acceptance of Dolores and Manolo and incorporates the newfound 'therapy' into their lives constitutes the warmly humorous ending.
The large cast of unknown actors is splendid. There are many cameos (Leocadia played by Leticia Huijara is a zany old lady who insists on photographing herself and the events of the village on a daily basis!, etc) and Laura Mañá handles the direction of this potentially difficult story with amazing finesse. We can only hope she continues to create other films as unique and satisfying as SEXO POR COMPASION! Grady Harp
