Ash Wednesday

Miércoles de ceniza

Mexico

1958

106 Min

Black and White

Spanish

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
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SCR Julio Alejandro, Luis G. Basurto, Roberto Gavaldón

CAST María Félix, Arturo de Córdova, Víctor Junco, Rodolfo Landa, María Rivas, María Teresa Rivas, David Reynoso, Carlos Fernández

This tale of unrequited love and retribution is told against an interesting backdrop of early 20th century Mexican history when Roman Catholic clerics and nuns were persecuted and anti-Catholic feelings ran high. The central character, Victoria, is a strong woman who carries a hatred for clerics from a devastating incident in her youth. Lana Turner or Joan Crawford would have chewed scenery in the part and probably have chewed Maria Felix to get the role. However, Maria Felix suffers and hates and wears high fashion with the best of Hollywood’s leading ladies, and she has an elegance, beauty, and talent of her own that dominate the film. —IMDb

Director

Roberto Gavaldón

Roberto Gavaldón (born June 7, 1909 in Jiménez, Chihuahua — died September 4, 1986 in Mexico City) was a Mexican film director. Eight of Gavaldón’s films were featured on the list 100 best movies of the cinema of Mexico. His 1958 film Ash Wednesday was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival and his 1959 film Beyond All Limits was entered into the following years festival. His 1960 film Macario was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but did not win. —Wikipedia

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ramosbarajas

2Feb12

A well crafted film, that sadly falls short in execution. The cinematography and production design are excellent, some of the best I've seen in Mexican films. The melodrama is heavy handed and becomes rather moralistic in the end. The role of Victoria fits Félix well as it was, no doubt, shaped after public persona, but it's in the right age-group, not like the virginal roles she played towards the end of her career.