O Baile dos 41

A good cast and talented designers are left out to dry by incompetent direction and especially screenwriting. The characters are inconsistent and have no development arc. The understanding of social roles in history is abandoned for nonsensical melodrama. The most centred sex scenes are heterosexual, and queer love is left as a strangely posed affair in long shots.

The movie is well made but there is definitely a lack of vision. It seems like every shot if an hommage of everything that has already been done before and by someone who has an extensive background on advertisement. It's pretty but it feels empty. It is extremely obvious the way they want to punctuate the "stiff" life and the "joy" of the underground life but it never feels authentic. Many of the performances feel wooden as if they were making sure we understand what they want to convey, instead of pulling us into the story. We don't even get to extensively see the joy of the dance and we don't see the consequences and humilliation inflicted in them either. It's not terrible but it is not a movie that successfully tells an engaging and believable story and the never-ending parade of "artsy" shots are just too much.

It's not often I sit through the credits at the end of a film. Usually I'm up and out of the armchair to make a cup of tea or whatever. This film was different and the ending was mundane but devastating for the viewer and the main male character.

The film is a heavily fictionalised version of a real event, that of a police raid on a party held by high society homosexuals. Ignacio de la Torre, the son-in-law of the then President, was meant to have been one of the participants. This much is known to history and from IMDB's résumé. From these bare bones, a whole film is woven as a prelude to the raid.

Ignacio holds a high position in society partly through his own wealth and partly through the patronage of his wife's father. Some things about his true life are known, that he and his wife led separate lives, for example, and were only together in public; in private they occupied different wings of their mansion. From this gossamer thread a love story emerges that may not even be true - we cannot be sure that Evaristo Rivas had a relationship with Ignacio or was even present when the ball was busted as the names of the participants were withheld. It doesn't matter. A whole, tender story of forbidden love is recounted by the film, a love that is unacknowledgeable in Mexican society at the time.

The film doesn't hold back. It shows the horror of a gay man trying to sleep with his wife. It shows the hatred that slowly grows out of resentment on both sides of a chaste marriage. It shows how happiness can be shattered in an instant by bigotry and ignorance.

The two male leads were stupendous and didn't skimp their roles. Those kisses were real. Their glances, their interaction, their physical moments together were the opposite of contrived. Mabel Cadena playing Amada, Ignacio's wife, visibly aged during her time of calvary. Her face and bearing changed convincingly from those of a pretty young bride to those of a bitter and spurned woman.

The sets and costumes were magnificent. I actually wondered if some of the scenes were filmed in real buildings, so convincing were the locations. The minor characters, even, were somewhat fleshed out rather than simply being drivers of the plot.

I loved this film and would recommend it.

My Review- "The Dance of the Forty One " on Netflix My Rating 8/10 A historical Biography Drama based on true events

This Film from Mexico is important in my opinion for the simple reason that it intelligently portrays the persecution and harassment and social attitudes that Gay men who held influential Political positions endured at the conclusion of the 19th Century and well into the 20th Century .

The catalogue of GLBTQI historical movies depicting events of these times when great and talented men like Oscar Wilde had to hide their true nature with painful marriages of conveniences to keep their place in Society and in the process ruined both the husband and wife's life when their deception was exposed by authorities is rarely told authentically in films.

Gay men at that time lead covert secret lives outside their marriages meeting in underground clubs or male brothels was the only way to express their sexuality where bacchanalian party's and orgies often took place so if male nudity or mild depictions of sodomy offend perhaps "The Dance of the Forty One ."is not for you but these few scenes are necessary to explain the story and the times.

Based on the Dance of the Forty-One which was a society scandal in early 20th-century Mexico. The incident revolved around an illegal police raid carried out in 17 November 1901 in a private home in Mexico City. The scandal involved the group of men who attended, 19 of whom were dressed in women's clothing. Despite the government's efforts to hush the incident up, the press was keen to report the incident, since the participants belonged to the upper echelons of society (including the son-in-law of the incumbent President of Mexico). This scandal was unique in that it was the first time homosexuality was openly spoken about in the Mexican media and had a lasting impact on Mexican culture.

A translation of the Press release at that time- On Sunday night, at a house on the fourth block of Calle la Paz, the police burst into a dance attended by 41 unaccompanied men wearing women's clothes. Among those individuals were some of the dandies seen every day on Calle Plateros. They were wearing elegant ladies' dresses, wigs, false breasts, earrings, embroidered slippers, and their faces were painted with highlighted eyes and rosy cheeks. When the news reached the street, all forms of comments were made and the behaviour of those individuals was subjected to censure. We refrain from giving our readers further details because they are exceedingly disgusting.

• Contemporary press report.

This is a big budget beautifully produced film directed by David Pablos and Screenplay by Monika Revilla . I would have preferred to see it in its original language rather than dubbed in English but got used to it after a few minutes . The cast are all very fine actors it stars Alfonso Herrera as Ignacio de la Torre y Mier, the gay son-in-law of then-president of Mexico Porfirio Díaz, Mabel Cadena as Amada Díaz, his illegitimate daughter, and Emiliano Zurita (son of Christian Bach) as Ignacio's fictional lover, Evaristo Rivas.

The film is a joint production by three companies Canana Films El Estudio, and Bananeira Filmes and filming locations included Mexico City and Guadalajara. It was filmed at the end of 2019 . Some fiming locations include the Rivas Mercado House, the bar La Opera in Mexico City's historic center and many of the exteriors were filmed in the streets of Guadalajara.

It may not be a film for everyone's taste but I think it's a very well produced and very interesting account of history that I had no knowledge of till I watched "El Baile de Los 41 or "Dance of the Forty One".

Excelent film, but to say this is the "true history" is a slight exaggeration, there being very little documentation (and that skewered by the journalism of the era) about the event or the supposed "club of 42". While the incident was and is well remembered here in Mexico, how much is the "real truth" and how much is speculation (we don't know that Ignancio de la Torre was actually at the dance, although his sexuality was well established... fun fact, because Emilio Zapata was one of de la Torre's more important employees -- his horse trainer -- Zapata was "smeared" by his opponents as an allegedly gay man). That de la Torre was a self-indulgent elitist snob and oppresive member of the Mexican "one percent"... as were the other 41... had the unfortunate side effect of perpetuating the stereotype of gay men as a bunch of rich cross-dressing hedonists.