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Niamh Thornton

When you find that film…

Posted on July 1, 2020

Previously, I have written about the happenstance of research and, today, I had another. I am writing a monograph about María Félix and found an article in my big Félix file by the actor Diana Bracho. She is critical of Félix and finds her to be representative of a type of character that she is glad has disappeared. To give her comments the time and space they deserve I’ll discuss them in detail in my book. But, there are curious twists to this piece that I want to pause on. Bracho’s article was written in 1985 at a time when women filmmakers were getting the opportunity to make films. Evident in her writing is a combination of a sense of crisis about the low level of output in commercial film alongside optimism about a changing Mexican film industry. In this context, Bracho’s sometimes harsh criticism of Félix make a lot of sense. Subsequently, she has had a full and varied career, largely in arthouse and realist films. In 2016, she starred in a short as María Félix, María Bonita (Amanda de la Rosa), which I have sought out over the years and finally found on de la Rosa’s YouTube channel. These twists and turns are reflective of how attitudes can change and how a single career contains multitudes.

Work cited

Bracho, Diana (1985) “El cine mexicano: ¿Y en el papel de la mujer…Quien?”, Mexican Studies/Estudios mexicanos 1.2 Summer, pp. 413-423.

  • Diana Bracho
  • María Félix

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