Underplayed Gems

La Mary (1974)

La Mary poster
Directed by
Daniel Tinayre
Genre
drama film, erotic film
Country
Argentina
Runtime
1h 47m
Rating
5.3 of 10 from 9 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

In 1940s Buenos Aires, a young woman from a working-class neighborhood can predict the future. She marries a man, and their relationship is troubled by his desire and her predictions of deaths.

passionatetensemelancholiceroticdramaticnostalgicunsettlingromantic

What happens

La Mary is a 1974 Argentine romantic-drama film directed by Daniel Tinayre starring Susana Giménez and Carlos Monzón. The screenplay is by José A. Martínez Suárez and Augusto R. Giustozzi, based on the 1965 short story of the same name by Emilio Perina, included in Historias apasionadas: La Mary y El Fiscal and later released as a novel with the release of the film. The film is set in the 1940s and centers on Mary (Giménez), a young girl from a working-class neighbourhood in Buenos Aires who has the reputation of being able to predict the future. She marries Cholo (Monzón), and their passionate relationship is marked by the confrontation of Mary's chastity and Cholo's sexual desire. Tension arises when Mary begins to predict a series of deaths. La Mary was a box office success and generated controversy due to its topic, so much that the Triple A threatened to kill the entire cast, accusing them of "offense against morality and decency." The film is also notable for the development of a romantic relationship between Giménez and Monzón during its production, a relationship that would be turbulent and attracted widespread media attention in the years to follow. It is now considered a cult film and a classic of Argentine cinema. In 2014, for the 40 year anniversary of its release, the film was remastered and re-released, declared "of cultural interest" by the city of Buenos Aires and the subject of an exhibition at the Pablo C. Ducrós Hicken Museum of Cinema. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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