Sexo por compasión

I wanted to see this film, because I have read very good reviews. They said it was a hilarious comedy filled with sarcasm. I saw the movie and didn't laugh once. It was a sad movie, talking about people stuck with a reality they don't like and they try to change it. Or that is what I thought the movie was about. It confused me and I think the film doesn't have a message that is clear. Maybe the director and the writer didn't exactly know what they wanted to say in the first place. Anyway it is a good movie, with very good performances...I liked it.

This interesting film deals with Dolores, Elisabeth Margoni, a 40 and some year old woman whose hubby , Jose Sancho, left her because of he can not stand her big generosity. Dolores runs a bar along with Floren, Mariola Fuentes, and she dedicates her life to work by helping people, which is to go to bed with other men of the little town such as Damian Alcazar, Alex Angulo, among others . Dolores, now called Lolita, turns to be so famous, thanks to her peculiar charity, that all men seek out her particular services. Things go wrong when her husband returns to the town and he learns her surprising activities.

Joyful and agreeable Spanish, Mexican film shot in Tlaxcala, Mexico. This a vibrant and feeling flick with enjoyable and bewildering scenes, it gets together drama and comedy : dramedy, though it is more comedy than drama. Despite its adult issue is by far an erotic film, but a wistful comedy and rated Parents Guide. At the beginning it is slow moving, sad and strange, but later on, it grows joyous and cheerful. This warm film is pretty well , even if has a silly and uneven plot flowing throughout, containing an unlikely and incredible premise, as a mature and kind woman who works to charity, providing happiness to a little town immersed in sadness by going to bed with all villagers. To be said that through her compassionate sex she brings the color to the town, in fact the first part of the movie is photographed in black and white and subsequently colour cinematography by cameraman Hofmann. The picture packs ridiculous incidents, light drama, brief laughs, confusion and mayhem. The flick follows the wake of Mexican and South American style : Magical Realism.

The movie was compellingly produced by Filmax : Carlos Fernandez, Julio Fernandez who have financed a lot of the Spanish cinema hits as Sleep tight, Transsiberian, The machinist, The way, Summer camp, Bullying, Rec saga, The returned, and cartoon, 3D films as Raton Perez, El Cid, Ginsaku, Donkeyxote . Being well and professionally directed by Laura Maña. She is a notorious secondary actress playing in films as Romasanta, Stand-by, Nowhere, Libertarias, Pasion Turca, Teta y luna. And she has directed a few prestigious films as Concepcion Arenal, Clara Campoamor, La vida empieza hoy, To die in San Hilario ,and Palabras encadenadas. This Sexo Por Compasion won awards in various Festivals such as : Rotterdam International Festival 2001 to best first work to Laura Maña, Guadalajara International Festival, Malaga Festival , Miamic Hispanic Film Festival and several others.

This is the story of a drab and gray Mexican village, where life is boring. The main character is a wife, who mourns the unexpected leave of her husband. She learns that he left her because maybe she is a person without sins. So she wants to do terrible sins in the hope that her husband may return. Adultery proves to be one of the most terrible sins. Thus, she decides to sleep with other men. But miraculously, she helps the sad men who visit her. After sleeping with her, they find new energy in life and the dreary village comes to life again. At this point in the movie, the colour returns to the movie too. In the beginning the movie was shot in gray-colors, but now it turns to glorious colors. The movie is done as a comedy with plenty of laughs and funny situations, but there's a serious undertone of breaking through the macho-culture of Mexico. I found the movie very enjoyable and lighthearted. Recommended.

I rarely feel much affinity with Spanish speaking films, especially when set in Latin America (this one's in Mexico) And yet another fantastical (as in "Spanish") Magic Realist fable.

Plus much Catholic preoccupation with sin and sinning. Plenty mucho of "God is punishing me". Oh dear. This is definitely not going to be my cup of cha.

I'm writing this as a i watch.

Plumptious Lolita is doing all the local whores out of business by servicing every sad bloke in town – for free. They all line up outside her bedroom; the door is closed; then come out half an hour later all loved up and shag-happy. What did she do? What does she give them? "Desire for self improvement" is the correct answer (the perfect blow job would be a very bad answer) You don't see any of the "action" (sex) or any of Lolita's special "loving". But lets just take it on trust: she's got the "magic touch".

Therefore the cure all for all known ills (including premature ejaculation) in the blighted town is stick it in chubby Lolita! Saves all the womenfolk the trouble of having it stuck up them. And the hubbies come back more cheerful after they've been seen to by her with these big soppy sloppy grins on. Shagging is sorted. Made wholesome. Guilt-free sinless sex. And sin shorn of guilt becomes unpunishable (from Him upstairs) Sinning is sorted too.

This lovely Lolita has – amazingly, as if miraculously – revitalised the desire to live, the desire to desire, in all who experience her. What a Saint she is.

I suppose if you like your subtitled foreign films to be feel good cumfy corny, easily digestible, with fat dollops of softly poached sentimentality plopped on top this is the film for you.

I'm possibly deliberately misinterpreting – wilfully distorting – the film. But as i won't be watching it again. this first impression will have to do. But when I don't feel sufficiently engaged by a film, the sympathy – the good willingness – is not active enough to want to understand it.

'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