Cast

Julio Zapata, played by Gael García Bernal

Tenoch Iturbide, played by Diego Luna

Luisa Cortés, played by Maribel Verdú

Ana Morelos, played by Ana López Morelos

Alejandro ‘Jano’ Montes de Oca, played by Juan Carlos Remolina

Manuel Huerta, played by Nathan Grinberg

María Eugenia Calles de Huerta, played by Verónica Langer

Cecilia Huerta, played by María Aura

Nicole Bazaine, played by Giselle Audirac

Esteban Morelos, played by Arturo Ríos

Diego ‘Saba’ Madero, played by Andrés Almedia

Silvia Allende de Iturbide, played by Diana Bracho

Miguel Iturbide, played by Emilio Echeverría

Enriqueta ‘Queta’ Allende, played by Marta Aura

Leodegaria ‘Leo’Victoria, played by Liboria Rodríguez

Crew

Casting: Manuel Teil

Costume Designer: Gabriela Diaque

Music Supervisor: Liza Richardson, Annette Fradera

Edited by: Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Rodríguez

Art Director: Miguel Álvarez

Line Producer: Sandra Solares

Director of Photography: Emmanuel Lubezki

Executive Producers: Sergio Agüero, David Linde, Amty Kaufman

Producer: Jorge Vergara

Screenplay: Carlos Cuarón

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Awards

Winner, Mastroianni Award, Venice Film Festival, 2001

Winner, Best Screenplay awarded to Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón, Venice Film Festival, 2001

Best New Actors awarded to Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, Venice Film Festival, 2001

Nominee, Hollywood Oscars

Nominee, Best film not in the English language, BAFTA, 2003

Plot

The film opens with the scene of Julio and Ana making love. (It is only later that we realise that Julio is making love not to his girlfriend but his best friend’s girlfriend.) Since Ana is going to Italy, Julio makes her promise that she will not sleep with any foreign men while there. Julio is then seen at Cecilia’s house, and he has sex with her hurriedly before he goes to see her off at the airport. Julio and Tenoch bid farewell to their respective girlfriends (Cecilia and Ana) at the airport. The voice-over explains the background of the main characters, the career of their parents, and so on. Before each sound-over we hear a short silent pause, announcing its appearance. Julio and his friend, Tenoch, are driving in the car, and they hit a traffic jam caused, the voice-over informs us, by the death of a building worker, Marcelino Escutia, in a car crash. Julio and Tenoch attend a wedding where they meet Tenoch’s cousin, Jano, who is a writer and married to Luisa, whom they invite to the beach called Boca del Cielo (Heaven’s Mouth).