I saw this movie, in the cinema of my hometown in Greater Buenos Aires, when it was released in 1985. I was 16 and I was really looking for references for my incipient life as a gay person. It had been a little over a year since we had recovered democracy in my country after a terrible and suffocating conservative right-wing military dictatorship. We were living in the beginning of a liberal central-left government, which eliminated all kinds of censorship in the arts and in the media. In the air, there was political, social and above all sexual openness. The sexual revolution and gay liberation of the 60s and 70s had not come here massivily. Although, there was a glimmer of that, during a short democratic period in the early 1970s. In 1974, "La Tregua" (nominated for the 1975 Oscar, for best foreign film) reflected that moment, and was the first film in which non-stereotyped secondary gay characters appeared. One of them the son of the protagonist, "confessing" his homosexuality and despite not being fully understood, is accepted by his father. Then, 10 years later, I was in the cinema, watching this new movie whose main theme was homosexuality and the coming out of the closet of one of its protagonists. To say right, at that time I did not like it, it was not enough what I saw, there were no kisses on the mouth, no sex scenes, and no clear and happy ending. It was a commercial movie, a somewhat dramatic romantic comedy, about a man in his late 20s/early 30s, married with a young son, recently divorced and who ends up sharing an apartment with another man who is gay and eventually they fall in love. Throughout the film, this man dreams and hallucinates with people from his past, who blame him for having "changed." Finally he decides to go back to living alone for just a while and start a therapy with a psychologist to clarify his mind. This failed to stop his crisis, which did him go running semi-naked through the streets at night and arrested by the police. When they tell him he can make only one call, he calls the man he loves. He goes to look for him but accompanied by his ex-wife (with whom they had previously met) and his son, and then he walks away. It is not clear who Roberto will stay with ... Yesterday I saw this film again, after 35 years and with a different perspective. And, yes, it is clear. It was the beginning of what is the phenomenon of being gay and living in Argentina, where family acceptance matters a lot. I can say that, in general terms, we succeeded and it is reflected in the rights that we have achieved in recent decades (marriage, gender identity, adoption, etc.). Even in recent Argentine lgbt-themed films, the stories revolve around affective and family ties (El rubio, Somos tr3s, Esteros, etc.) Sometimes families, which we help to modify and enrich, and also the new ones we are creating. Although it was a commercially successful, this is not a "great" film, but it is very authentic, and it set the style to deal with and include the issue of homosexuality in Argentine fiction (both in film, TV, etc.) and in reality of everyday. A little of drama and a little of comedy. Note: The actor who plays Roberto died a few days ago, after years with sequelae from several brain strokes. He was well liked on the local scene (as was the rest of the cast of this film).
