Amar te duele

Infobox Film
name = Amar te duele
caption = Movie poster for "Amar te duele"
writer = Carolina Rivera
starring = Luis Fernando Peña
Martha Higareda
Alfonso Herrera
Ximena Sariñana
Pedro Damian
director = Fernando Sariñana
producer = Fernando Sariñana
Francisco Gonzalez Compean
distributor = 20th Century Fox
IFC Films
Icon Entertainment
Warner Bros.
released = November 8 2002 (Mexico limited)
runtime = 104 min.
language = Spanish
imdb_id = 0318292
budget = $5,000,000 US (est.)

"Amar te duele" is a 2002 dramatic film written by Carolina Rivera and directed by Fernando Sariñana. It is based on the classic play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. In the story, both families hate each other because they belong to different social classes. This movie offers various archetypes of urban and modern youth in Mexico within a story about sexual attraction and adolescent idealism. It was also released in Argentina, Chile and USA, where it received good reviews.cite web |author=de Sainz, Pablo |title=Amar te duele: Una película para jovenes y cursis |publisher=Open Publishing |date=2003-01-03 |work=La prensa San Diego |url= http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/january10-03/amar.htm |accessdate=2007-11-07 |language=Spanish]

Plot

The story begins with Ulises, who lives in a suburb of Mexico City, whose father sells clothes in the market. He is accustomed to living humbly and he belongs to a socioeconomic class called "naco". Ulises lives surrounded by a world of drugs, graffiti (this one being his great passion) and crime. One day Ulises and his gang of friends decide to go to play Qzar, a laser-gun game. In the game, Ulises has an encounter with a man named Francisco an upper-class boy who is the boyfriend of Renata, the girl Ulisis is destined to fall in love with. When they face off, the "nacos" and the upper-class kids fight fiercely after Francisco throws insults. The fight ends with a series of shoves and blows that hurt the pride of both sides.

Shortly thereafter, Ulises life takes an unexpected turn as he meets Renata in the Santa Fe Mall. She is a rich girl who likes the good life. Renata is buying clothes with her inseparable friend and confidant "La Güera" and her younger, alcoholic sister, Mariana, when suddenly she crosses seductive glances with Ulises at a clothing store. Ulises feels strangely and deeply attracted to this charming girl without knowing why he feels this attraction. His dreams are broken when he realizes that she belongs to a higher socioeconomic class than him. Despite this, Ulises decides to follow her in the mall while Renata and her companions try to flirt with him. Renata’s friends tell Renata to kiss Ulises and the encounter does end with an unexpected and passionate kiss between them. After that moment, Ulises continues to follow the girls because he does not want to lose the one that could be his real love.

However, Ulises finds even deeper disappointment when he discovers that Renata is Francisco's girlfriend. Francisco realizes that Ulises has been following Renata and orders his bodyguards to catch him so that Francisco can have the opportunity to hit him with his own fists. It is here when both remember their first encounter in the game and Francisco unleashes his fury against Ulises. Renata tries to stop the fight but Ulises manages to get away and escapes from the mall.

Ulises can not remove the captivating beauty of Renata from his mind and decides to intentionally provoke an encounter with her, knowing that she always visits that mall. Ulises hopes come back to his heart since he sees Renata again. This time she is with her mother so the meeting becomes more difficult to realize. Ulises takes advantage of Renata’s mother’s carelessness to approach and speak directly with Renata, who now is convinced of being in love. Renata gives her phone number to Ulises to arrange a future meeting because the two are very interested in having a formal relationship.

A few days later Ulises calls Renata at her house, a very large and elegant residence, with the aim of inviting her on a date. He calls to a radio program that is dedicated to attaching couples and says his invitation to Renata, who accepts. "La Güera" becomes a direct accomplice of Renata because she helps keep the secret from Renata’s parents who believe that Renata is meeting with her friend. Their first date happens in the same place where they had met, Santa Fe. Multiple clandestine dates continue until they finally become an item. The uncomfortable unbalance between the social classes of Ulises and Renata unleashes a series of disagreements among their friends, including Mariana and Ulises’s gang. But they trust that the love they feel for each other is the most important thing and decide to continue their relationship regardless of what society thinks.

Renata is determined to bring a deeper relationship because Ulises thinks that she is a great girl. Ulises gifts range from cute portraits of his face, handmade by Ulises by himself, to huge painted graffiti on walls made especially for her. This makes Renata feel very special, because she had not previously had that kind of feelings being with boys like Francisco, who offered only trivial and material things. For a while, Ulises and Renata became inseparable, they even stop going to school in order to be together more. Francisco discovers this situation and his jealousy makes him take revenge on Ulises, so Francisco sends his bodyguards to beat him in a brutal way at Renata’s school where Ulises had been leaving Renata after dating. Renata can do nothing to prevent the beating.

When Ulises shows his wounds and physical marks of the assault to his mother, she advises to him to stop seeing Renata. The reaction of Ulises’ friends is somewhat more radical as they decide to go to Renata’s school to set revenge. They start beating the rich kids in a massive and bloody way. Many of the rich kids were injured, specially "La Güera"'s boyfriend, who ends up in the hospital, even though the vast majority were innocent. This reaches the ears of Renata’s parents, who had forbidden her to see Ulises again. She tries to defend their relationship, but their parents do not understand her. Renata is completely isolated from the outside world, so when she finally manages to send a message to Ulises, just to say goodbye, because she has decided that is the best for both. Ulises thinks that Renata does not love him anymore, but what Renata really wants is to protect him. Ulises does not take Renata’s decision well and begins to mourn and lament. He is on the brink of madness. His friends try to comfort him, but their efforts are futile as the only thing that could bring calm to him is to be next to Renata again.

Ulises is determined to see Renata again, despite the opposition from her parents, so he climbs over the roof of Renata’s house and goes to her room where their encounter culminates in the physical. After their meeting, they decide to escape together and go far away to Acapulco, where nothing and no one can prevent their love. Mariana overhears their plans and she calls Francisco to tell him. Before leaving, Ulises goes home and leaves his parents most of the money that he has earned since he began working. The couple goes to the bus station and just when Ulises and Renata are preparing to leave, Francisco and Mariana appear to prevent the escape. Desperate to keep Renata, Francisco pulls a gun and threatens to kill Ulises if they do not stop. Ulises cares nothing other than being with Renata so he challenges Francisco to do so, but unexpectedly Francisco, who is inexperienced in the use of arms, accidentally shoots Renata in the chest. A few moments later, Renata dies in the arms of Ulises, but not before telling him how much she loves him. Ulises goes into shock and refuses to accept her death; he refuses to accept that he has lost the love of his life. The last scene shows Ulises mourning by the grave of Renata.

Cast and production

Production

* Director: Fernando Sariñana
* Script: Carolina Rivera
* Production: Francisco Gonzalez Compean and Fernando Sariñana
* Music: Herminio Gutiérrez and Enrique Quezadas
* Photography: Salvador Cartas
* Assembly: Roberto Bolado
* Art Director: Mirko von Berner

Cast

* Luis Fernando Peña as Ulises
* Martha Higareda as Renata
* Ximena Sariñana as Mariana
* Andrea Damian as “La Güera”
* Alfonso Herrera as Francisco
* Daniela Torres" as "China
* Armando Hernandez as Genaro
* Pedro Damian as Renata’s father
* Patricia Bernal as Renata’s mother
* Zaide Silvia Gutierrez as Ulises’ mother
* Eligio Meléndez as Ulises’ father
* Jose Maria de Tavira as Alejandro
* Pablo Velasco as Ulises’ brother [cite web|title=Películas del Cine Mexicano|publisher=Open Publishing|url=http://cinemexicano.mty.itesm.mx/peliculas/amarteduele.html|accessdate=2007-11-08|language=Spanish]
* Fernando Sariñana appears in the scene of the mall at the beginning of the movie, insulting the “nacos”. [cite web |title=Amar te duele |publisher=Open Publishing |url=http://www.cinenganos.com/pelicula/AmarTeDuele/ |accessdate=2007-11-12 |language=Spanish]

Notes

The drawings made by the character of Ulises are really made by Luis Fernando Peña, the director of the film, except for the graffiti, which was made by professionals. When filming the tape, the actors could not sleep at their own houses because they had to work for 24 hours.

Awards

"Amar te duele" and its cast have been nominated many times for important awards. It was nominated for the Silver Ariel in the categories of Best Actor (Luis Fernando Peña), Best Original Score (Enrique Quezadas) and Best Supporting Actor (Armando Hernandez); and by the MTV Movie Awards for Favorite Actor (Luis Fernando Peña) and the Sexiest Scene (Martha Higareda). [cite web |title=Ganar no duele |publisher=Open Publishing |url=http://www.esmas.com/espectaculos/cine/294698.html |accessdate=2007-11-07 |language=Spanish]

The film has also won many awards the Audience Choice Award for Fernando Sariñana in the Chicago Latino Film Festival (2003); the MTV Movie Award for Favorite Actress (Martha Higareda), Favorite Movie, Favorite Song for a Movie (Natalia Lafourcade) and Favorite Villain (Alfonso Herrera) in the MTV Movie Awards Mexico; the Silver Goddess for Best Music (Enrique Quezadas), Best Newcomer (Martha Higareda) and Best Supporting Actor (Armando Hernández) in the Mexican Cinema Journalists; and at least the Best Actor award (Luis Fernando Peña) in the Mons International Festival of Love Films. [cite web |title=Awards for |publisher=Open Publishing |url=http://spanish.imdb.com/title/tt0318292/awards |accessdate=2007-11-10 |language=Spanish]

oundtrack

The soundtrack contains a blend of Latin pop and rock.

CD 1

# "Amarte Duele" - Natalia Lafourcade
# "Soñe" - Zoé
# "Mas" - Kinky (band)
# "Caliente" - Pulpo
# "Sabor a chocolate" - Elefante
# "La negra" - Diabolo
# "Funeral Reggae" - Genitallica
# "Guanabi" - Pulpo
# "En el 2000" - Natalia Lafourcade
# "Tu tienes un lugar" – Mario Domm
# "Cuento" - Ximena Sariñana

CD 2

# "Malo" - Pulpo
# "Te ofreci" – Diabolo
# "No quieres venir" - Volovan
# "Mañana no es hoy" - Ximena Sariñana
# "Llevarte a Marte" - Natalia Lafourcade (with the special collaboration of Leon Larregui)
# "Amarte Duele" - Natalia Lafourcade
# "Las huellas" - Ximena Sariñana
# "The other side" – Fey (with the collaboration of DJ. Grego e-Latin club) [cite web |title=Soundtrack |publisher=Open Publishing |url=http://www.mixup.com.mx/mixup/product.asp?sku=7509950582220&dept_id=1&subdept_id=2201 |accessdate=2007-11-11 |language=Spanish]

References

External links

*es icon imdb title|id=0318292|title=Amar te duele
*es icon [http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/january10-03/amar.htm "Amar te duele: Una película para jóvenes y cursis", Pablo de Sainz, "laprensa-sandiego.org", January 3, 2003]
*es icon [http://www.amarteduele.htm Official Page of the Movie]
*es icon [http://cinemexicano.mty.itesm.mx/peliculas/amarteduele.html Useful information about the film]
*es icon [http://www.esmas.com/espectaculos/cine/294698.html Movie Awards]