Compassionate Sex DVD (15)

Dir/writer: Laura Mañá, 2000, Spain/Mexico, 109 mins, Spanish with subtitles.
Cast: Elisabeth Margoni, Álex Angulo, Pilar Bardem

Compassionate Sex is a challenging and rewarding black comedy about morals, sex, relationships, sin and charity. It is an intelligent story, brilliantly told and is wise enough to leave the final judgement to the - possibly quite taken aback - audience.

Written and directed by Laura Mañá it’s a Spanish production set in Mexico in a nameless and barren town. Populated by characters straight out of the Gabriel García Márquez school of magical realism, the town is held together by the good deeds and selflessness of Dolores (Margoni). Indeed, she is so charitable that her husband leaves her in disgust and the local priest is clearly consumed with jealousy.

In despair at her absent husband, Dolores abandons her charity, changes her name to Lolita and dives into a life of sin. Her choice of sin, having consulted the priest for his advice, is having “compassionate sex” with the men of the town. Rather than bring about disaster, however, her actions lead to miracles and a rise in money for the church. The moral maze negotiated here is complex appearing at times totally sound, and then completely unstable.
Mañá leads us a merry waltz and just as you are settling into the mood, feeling as though you are comfortable with it, she pulls the rug out from under your feet. When a young women works out what is happening in the town bar, she storms in to discover her husband with Lolita. Horrified she seeks solace with the womenfolk who persuade her to tolerate this new morality as it has brought them happiness. We watch as she awaits her husband’s return, only then to be horrified by his reaction. It is this testing of the viewers’ own expectations, of consistently setting up scenarios to then pulls them down; twist them, that Mañá challenges us to question our own standards and beliefs. Moreover, as she manages to do this without resorting to sentiment, violence or gratuitous sex, but handles the issues with humour and tenderness, is a mark of this film's strength.

Mañá use of switching from black and white to colour to signify the switch from good times to bad is brilliantly effective. The texture and lighting is so perfect that the black and white sequences are reminiscent of an old B movie or film noir; the lighting ratcheting up the tension and making every facial tic snap out at the audience. About halfway through, as the happiness descends on the town, the colour comes through and the town is transformed into the glorious Technicolor of MGM musicals, vivid and vibrant.

This is a great film, and challenging with it. As for the ending? Well, looking back, it is obvious, but from the opening frames of the film, you could never have imagined winding up with its final denouement. Mañá delivers the goods in her delicious, mischievous and beguiling way.

Tim Lundberg