Sexo con Amor (2003) Reviews

• No cucumbers in my salad, please!!!!!

  jotix1002006-09-23

  We are taken to a classroom in Santiago, Chile, at the start of this story, where children are asked to answer a test about sex education. The beautiful teacher, Luisa, never discusses the results with her students. Luisa, we realize, is having an affair with Jorge, the father of a boy in her class. At the same time, Luisa has her own live-in boyfriend. It appears the kids in Luisa's sex education course couldn't care less about the subject. To complicate things further, Then we meet Emilio and Maca, parents of a another boy in Luisa's class who are having problems of their own. It appears Maca doesn't like sex as much as Emilio, who seems to be ready for it at all times. Alvaro and Elena are a young couple with a daughter in the same school. They all come together one night as Luisia is trying to impress on all parents the importance of sexual education for children that will be teen agers soon in school, as well as at home. That this film was done in Chile is even more surprising. The country, a conservative stronghold in South America, shows how times are changing in this funny comedy directed by Boris Quercia, who also appears as Emilio. Mr. Quercia's film, one of the most popular films of all times in that country doesn't want to shock, on the contrary, he presents his story as a sort of waking call for his fellow citizens into speaking frankly about such thorny issue, that we are sure is not one of the things people don't feel free to talk about in the country. The ensemble cast Mr. Quercia gathered do impressive work. Sigrid Alegria is excellent as Luisa. Alvaro Rudolphy appears as Alvaro, a man whose wife, Elena, is expecting and feels the urge to look for sexual adventures with his secretary and willing women. Alvaro, on the other hand, is a typical exponent of the machismo mentality when he accuses his wife of getting involved with a friend from her university days, who happens to be gay. Patricio Contreras, is also fine a s Jorge, the writer who is involved with Luisa. Maria Izquierdo makes a comic contribution playing Maca, Emilio's wife. It appears that someone that had an issue with the movie keeps marking the comments submitted to IMDb as not useful. Take this comedy for what it really is and let other viewers make up their minds. Boris Quercia deserves better and perhaps he will show us on his next film.

• analysis of film's importance to Chilean cinema

  peteito2003-12-02

  Sexo Con Amor is a glorified soap-opera and has become the most successful home grown film in Chilean cinematic history. Its soap opera status is no bad thing, in fact the film's success stems from the fact that, like the previous reocrd holding film, El Chacotero Sentimental, which itself was based on a radio programme, it provides a refreshing slice of reality of what the real Chilean gets up to in bed. In a country by tradition conseravtive and Catholic, it may surprise viewers to see the director having sex with his teenage niece on top of a washing machine, or his wife masturbating with a courgette, yet this comic hyperbole serves to emphasise the fact that Chileans ARE at times unfaithful, they do have sex before marriage. Indeed, the apparent soap opera layer to the film masks the issues raised. As the title implies, the film focuses on the issues of sex and love, and the 6 main protagonists comprise 3 couples who attend an evening class to discuss the problems they have with their sex lives. Among the problems which director Boris Quercia relates to the viewers are those of infidelity (in a country where divorce is illegal), unwanted pregnancy (in a country where abortion is illegal), homosexuality (in a continent where machismo dominates) and incest. Alcohol, drugs, and violence play secondary roles to the sexual politics taking place. The extreme comedy provided by the explosion of truths surrounding the Chilean en la cama projects the film as a statement in Latin American film - this is the Chilean in all his naked glory. Many will criticise the soap opera 'dumbing down' of major issues, but this accessibility has reached the largest audience in domestic film history, and also, those critics would do well to read a book by Mario Vargas Llosa 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter'. Not only does this book provide the Latin American opinion of the Argentine, but it portrays the soap opera as a central part of contemporary culture, which it is. Soap opera becomes escapism, art, and most importantly, reality. It also subtley raises issues such as divorce, the role of the father figure, and national identity. Quercia uses soap opera for the same effects. Social criticisms are raised in a comic manner, and the film helps to define a recent boom in Chilean cinema, alongside El Chacotero Sentimental and Taxi Para Tres. The authentic chileanness is what comes to define this film. Mise-en-scene such as glasses of pisco-sour, bottles of vino tinto chileno, images of Cerro San Cristobal, Alvaro eating Reineta fish, talk of the World Cup in '98 - this is Chilean film basking in its Chileanness. The language of a cast plucked mainly from soap operas, such as ex-Pura Sangre star Sigrid Alegria, is a strong Chilean brand of Castellano, 'como estay?' 'al tiro' 'huevon' etc, make the film truely Chilean. As a foreigner watching the film shortly after its release in Cine Hoyts Huerfanos in Santiago, the scene when Pato Contreras sits in his car, swearing at Alegria for leaving him for her own boyfriend, his tirade of Chilean insults ('concha su madre' etc), made me, and the other 1000 people present, laugh out loud. I released that the locals where actually laughing at themselves, at their idiosyncratic way of speaking Spanish. Finally there was a film, 100% Chilean, with which Chilean people could identify, with which a Chilean director could raise social questions without he himself 'disappearing' (as in the days of the Military Regime). Sexo Con Amor may be an extended soap opera, but it is a defining moment in Chilean, and in Latin American, film history.

• Let's talk about sex...(no spoilers version)

  Hugo_diaz2003-06-02

  A group of parents goes to their children's school to talk about how to face the topic of sex in front of the kids. But all the grown ups in the room, teacher included, are way behind of being capable to even mention what's the best thing to do about sexuality. Sexo con Amor (Sex With Love) is an assembled cast movie with excellent performances. Main characters played by Sigrid Alegría and Alvaro Rudolphy, the unfaithful teacher and the adulterous office man, are astounding. But laurels should be given to director- screen writer- lead character Boris Quercia, who plays an unsatisfied husband tempted with a gorgeous niece who comes from France. His frigid wife is acted wonderfully by María Izquierdo, a sort of Chilean Carol Burnette. Music is even better. The soundtrack includes several songs of `Los Petinellis' one of the most popular rock bands in Chile these days. Unfaithfulness, safe sex, terrible sex, great sex, gay sex, Santiago is exposed as a crowded city of imperfect inhabitants with great candor. The tagline gives a trend about part of the mood within the film (La pelicula que no acaba./ the movie which doesn't come.) Well, it's interesting how wide is the range of myths or taboos included in every piece of conversation about sex. Whether is an uptight fellow or an open mind one, there is always a tiny bit of lack of honesty at the moment of talking about our own sexuality. The biggest box office hit in Chilean cinema. The reason is a conventional and horny country whose people yell out asking for a movie that show a bit of sincerity. And we have got it. 8/ 10

• Una de las mejores peliculas que he visto en mi vida....

  vaatutexas2004-12-19

  Especially for those of us who have spent time living in Chile, this is by far one of the best films I have ever seen. While the other comments are right in that it is like a soap opera, this movie has so much more than the traditional Latin American melodrama. Typical of what I have come to expect from Chilean films and even some soap operas on TV, Sexo con amor is extremely mature in the way it tackles some of society's most common problems- and its best kept secrets. Not to worry that this film might be heavy and too serious, it kept me laughing the whole time. Without subtitles, one without at least an introduction into "chilenismos" would be hard pressed to keep up, but I recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in learning more about Chile.

• How Love and Sex Are Entwined?

  claudio_carvalho2007-05-11

  In Santiago, Chile, the schoolteacher Luisa (Sigrid Alegría) proposes a debate about sex with the parents of her students with the intention of giving classes about sex education to the youngsters. Luisa is a young independent woman that is split between the love for her also young mate, the painter Valentín (Francisco Pérez-Bannen), and for her experienced lover, the middle-age father of one of her students and successful writer Jorge (Patricio Contreras). Jorge still lives with his wife Mónica (Loreto Valenzuela), but their marriage ended and they do not even talk to each other, but his affair with Luisa is limited to sex. In the meeting, the parents are divided in groups, and Luisa stays with Jorge, and the couples Álvaro (Álvaro Rudolphy) and his pregnant wife Elena (Cecilia Amenábar) and the butcher Emilio (Boris Quercia) and his frigid wife Maca (María Izquierdo). Álvaro is a wolf man, harasses all the beautiful women that he meets for one night stand, unfaithful and neglecting his wife at home. When Luisa finds that she is pregnant and Valentin is going to work in São Paulo, she makes a decision with her sentimental life. When Elena meets her former friend from university Carlos Rojas (Carlos Osorio), Álvaro becomes jealous and tries to commit with Elena. When the liberated and independent niece Susan (Javiera Díaz de Valdés) spends a couple of days in his home, the faithful Emilio is seduced by the sexy and gorgeous young woman, while Maca finds her sexuality, reading magazines and going to the gynecologist. "Sexo Con Amor" is a magnificent surprise, a delightful romance with stunning screenplay and outstanding performances of a cast absolutely unknown (at least for me). The simple and refreshing story perfectly balances romance and comedy with elements of soap opera, eroticism and a wonderful chemistry of talented and beautiful actresses and actors and it is impossible not laugh and love this film. There are hilarious scenes, like the discussion when the Catholic priest arrives to the parents meeting and Álvaro opposes with his strong position. The themes love and sex are entwined in funny situations, with Álvaro being the stereotype of the Latin macho-man; Emilio and Maca represent the conservative middle-class of Chile; and the extremely sexy Sigrid Alegría and Javiera Díaz de Valdés the new generation that reflect times of new ideas and changing in the society. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Sexo Com Amor" ("Sex With Love")