The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales

El esqueleto de la señora Morales
Rogelio Antonio González

One of the greatest macabre comedies of Mexican cinema stars the uproariously brilliant Arturo de Córdova (The Kneeling Goddess) as an affable taxidermist who for 20 years has been psychologically tormented by his puritanical wife (Amparo Rivelles) until one day he starts planning the perfect murder….

DIRECTOR
Rogelio Antonio González
YEAR
1960
COUNTRY
Mexico
RUNTIME
85 minutes
LANGUAGE
Spanish with English subtitles
ORIGINAL TITLE
El esqueleto de la señora Morales

Leave it to frequent Buñuel scriptwriter Luis Alcoriza (The River and Death, The Exterminating Angel, Él) and comic maestro Rogelio Antonio González (co-writer of The Three Garcías) to craft one of the greatest macabre comedies of Mexican cinema. An uproarious Arturo de Córdova (The Kneeling Goddess) stars as Mr. Pablo Morales, an affable taxidermist who for 20 years has been psychologically tormented by his puritanical wife (Amparo Rivelles, delightfully hateable). She despises everything about him—his vocation, his amateur photography hobby, his friendship with the neighborhood kids—but nevertheless he still loves her. Every man has his limits, though, even a doting husband, and one day Pablo meticulously plans the perfect murder…. A freewheeling mixing of genres—horror, comedy, courtroom drama—and a personal favorite of Guillermo del Toro, The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales gleefully twists the knife into the hypocrisies of middle-class respectability, satirizing everything from crumbling marriages to the Catholic church to the justice system. 

Restored by the Laboratorio de Restauración Digital de La Cineteca Nacional.


Luis Alcoriza (El río y la muerte, El ángel exterminador, Él), guionista habitual de Buñuel, y Rogelio Antonio González (coguionista de Los tres García), maestro de la comedia, son los artífices de una de las mejores comedias macabras del cine mexicano. El genial Arturo de Córdova (La diosa arrodillada) interpreta al Sr. Pablo Morales, un afable taxidermista que lleva 20 años atormentado psicológicamente por su puritana esposa (Amparo Rivelles, deliciosamente odiosa). Ella desprecia todo de él—su vocación, su afición a la fotografía amateur, su amistad con los chavales del barrio—pero, a pesar de todo, él sigue queriéndola. Pero todo hombre tiene sus límites, incluso un marido cariñoso, y un día Pablo planea meticulosamente el asesinato perfecto… El esqueleto de la señora Morales, una mezcla de géneros—horror, comedia, drama judicial—y una de las favoritas de Guillermo del Toro, retuerce alegremente el cuchillo contra las hipocresías de la respetabilidad de la clase media, satirizando desde los matrimonios en ruinas hasta la Iglesia católica y el sistema judicial.

Restaurada por el Laboratorio de Restauración Digital de la Cineteca Nacional.

The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales
The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales
The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales
The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales

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