Sólo Con Tu Pareja (1991)

Movie Info

Tomás doesn’t have many scruples…

Playboy Tomás Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho) plays fast and loose with the women he sleeps with.  When his games catch up to him, he’s caught by Silvia (Dobrina Liubomirova), the nurse of his doctor and neighbor Mateo (Luis de Icaza).  Silvia plots revenge on Tomás, but it comes at a very inopportune time.  Tomás has become infatuated with his new neighbor Clarisa (Claudia Ramírez) who he sees a real future with even though he hasn’t met her.  Silvia’s trap is about to be sprung, and Tomás isn’t ready for what happens next.

Directed and written by Alfonso Cuarón (with additional scripting by Carlos Cuarón), Sólo Con Tu Pareja (Only with Your Partner) is a comedy romance.  The film was Cuarón’s first feature film (which recieved funding from the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia) and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1991.  The film received positive reviews, and the Criterion Collection released a remastered version of the film (Criterion #353).

I have liked Alfonso Cuarón and found Sólo Con Tu Pareja available for streaming.  The film has a feel of a first film, and a definite lightness to the movie that some of Cuarón’s later films do not have.  If you are a fan of a director, I always recommend checking out their first work to see how they improved, maintained, or changed over the decades.

Suicide by Microwave

The film is primarily a comedy with some romance.  The plot feels pretty compact (it takes place only over what can be assumed is a few days) and despite dealing with some heavy subjects (AIDS and suicide), the movie generally keeps a tone that reminds viewers that they are watching a comedy and not a Shakespearian tragedy (with running gags like the poodle in the microwave).  The movie has a hint of The Graduate to it with Tomás and Clarisa “finding each other” at the end, but an unclear future lingers over both of them with Tomás’s wandering eyes (she can humor herself, but it’s not going to work).

For a short film, the movie has a rather large ensemble cast.  He’s a bit odd but the key of the movie is getting the audience to like Daniel Giménez Cacho in spite of his behavior, and he succeeds in winning the viewer.  I also like the very forgiving neighbors of Luis de Icaza and Astrid Hadad (who has her own secret).  Claudia Ramirez is charming as the woman who catches Tomás’s eye, and I kind of like the Japanese business men that keep getting roped into the drama.

Don’t jump…he’s not worth it (nor is the guy next to you for that matter)

For being an older movie by a first time director, the movie is clear, clean, and quite good looking.  The film is largely limited to a few locations (which helps keep the control) and the final sequence on the Torre Latinoamericana in Mexico City is probably the more expense portion of the film.

Sólo Con Tu Pareja that is a nice little movie that is simple and fun.  It is slightly more intense than a standard romantic comedy due to the subject matter, but it largely has that romantic comedy feel that overrides the drama (but it also doesn’t feel melodramatic).  If you like Alfonso Cuarón and want to see some his range, check it out!  Cuarón followed Sólo Con Tu Pareja with his adaptation of The Little Princess in 1995.