a film by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo
1985 | 90 mins | Mexico
Guadalupe Del Toro .... Doña Herlinda
Marco Antonio Treviño .... Rodolfo
Arturo Meza .... Ramón
Letícia Lupercio .... Olga
Guillermina Alba .... Billy
Lucha Villa .... Herself
Doña Herlinda and Her Son
a heartwarming tale of social manners
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Cue the life of Rodolfo, a bisexual thirty-something neurosurgeon with a successful career in
pediatric medicine and a cute boyfriend in the form of Ramón, a music student whose obvious
liking for the son of Doña Herlinda is causing this devoted mother many a sleepless night.
Only her worries are not the usual kind. Rather they concern her son's struggle for intimacy
with Ramón given the overcrowded state of his boarding house accommodation, a situation
that comes to the fore when over dinner Mother Herlinda casually suggests to Ramón that
he stay over every night - after all Rodolfo's bedroom is very big!
With Ramón now part of the family and Doña Herlinda having clearly found in him a
deep friendship equal to that of her son, it would appear that everyone's a winner. Only
thing is, few things in life are free and the cost of Mother Herlinda welcoming her son's
gay lover into her household, is a desire for grandchildren. So cue Rodolfo courting the
beautiful Olga, a situation that prompts Ramón to question whether the man he
loves should really be the man in his life. But worry not Ramón, for could it be
that Mother Herlinda is working on a plan to secure the happiness of everyone - herself included!
To some, this feature may appear to have an almost amateurish feel to it and yet and unlike many
a work of later years, this film is notably up front in terms of its depiction of sexual
intimacy and gay love. All of which is remarkable given the country of origin
and the year in which it was made.
For at a time when Hollywood was taking its first tentative steps to honestly depict homosexuality
and independent cinema was going far further by bravely highlighting the AIDS crisis, here was
Mexico, a country forever noted for its conservative approach to homosexuality, proud to
cinematically showcase two men in love with each other, in a non-judgmental and if anything,
a matter-of-fact manner. Then again, openly gay director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo has
never held back on homosexual inclusion, with almost all of his features
having in full or in part some form of gay visibility.
In this instance, Hermosillo shone his spotlight on a story by Jorge López Páez of
a mother whose desire to live happily with her son and his wife, is matched by her son's
desire to live happily with both his male and female lovers. That this film shot Hermosillo to
international fame should be of no surprise, given he juggles with considerable skill Mexican
life, music and dance with homosexual openness and the role of the extended family,
courtesy of a mother who keeps us guessing whether she simply does not know
or prefers to pretend not to know, what exactly is going on around her.
In doing so, Hermosillo presents us with characters that we genuinely care about, in scenes
that relate their frustrations and heartbreak, including a poignant one in which Doña
Herlinda comforts Ramón upon the absence of Rodolfo. All of which makes this feature
a most welcome variant of the 'mother who wants to see her gay son get married' scenario,
as we witness Doña Herlinda manipulating the situation to get exactly
what she wants, much it has to be said to everyone's advantage!
Along the way, this heartwarming tale of social manners became one of the foundation stones
of Latin American gay cinema.
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