Compassionate Sex

Laura Mañá’s directing début makes a mockery of Latin machismo culture in a light-hearted, slightly surreal and moving way. Sexo por Compasión starts somberly: in a colourless Mexican village, all the inhabitants are really dissatisfied. Couples quarrel and children refuse to talk. The old Leocadia is bed-ridden, the priest is depressed. Only the heroine Dolores, who has been deserted by her husband, continues to do her good deeds. But when she realises that she has been deserted because she is too good, she decides to go to bed with the first one to ask for it. Because if she is bad, her husband will probably come back… Amazingly this deed saves the life of the chosen bed partner, making this deliberate sin a good deed too. Dolores, alias Lolita, decides to `help’ all the men in the village in the same way. Her reputation grows and soon men from far and wide are standing in line for her services. Even stranger: the whole village blossoms and colour returns to the film.Mañá is an actress who displays a great talent for directing in her feminist fable. The film rests both on the unusual characters and the atmospheric setting, that is reminiscent of Buñuel in his Mexican period. Maña manages repeatedly to evoke surprising meanings from this simple story and is never afraid to head straight for her target.