El hombre de la mandolina (1985) Poster

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9/10
An LGBT classic
frc19839 January 2022
The film is a brilliant work of Mexican LGBT cinema, showing us a student environment, a tyrannical mother who dominates her family and a homophobic society, where being homosexual was to be ostracized and condemned to death.

Jardiel is a young homosexual who lives with his possessive mother Doña Fina, his sickly father Umberto; his two sisters named Rocio and Lulu; and his brother named Andres.

Jardiel is secretly in love with Carlos, his partner in the Estudiantina of the University of Queretaro. One day Jardiel decides that the time has come to propose to Carlos. After being rejected by his friend, Jardiel begins a depressive drift, which is compounded by his mother's rejection and repudiation. The family begins to fall apart and the father Umberto dies, feeling deeply hurt by Doña Fina's harassment of his son, ridiculing him for being homosexual.

Complementing Jardiel's story are the plots of the three siblings: brother Andrés, who seeks Viola's love; sister Roció, who has a son named Francisco by her boyfriend Héctor, who eventually abandons her; and sister Lulu, who decides to leave home and escape from her tyrannical mother.

Of all Jardiel's siblings, it is Lulu who supports him in his homosexual condition. But, paradoxically, Lulu must flee to save herself.

This is a highly recommended film as a journey through the history of classic LGBT filmmaking.
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