Sólo con tu pareja (1991)

Paradoxically titled Alone with Your Partner, the dark Mexican satire Sólo con tu pareja (1991) represents the directorial debut of acclaimed filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien [2001]). The plot follows a serial womanizer (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) whose life takes a dramatic turn when he’s falsely diagnosed with HIV. Frightened by the prospect of a prolonged and painful death, Tomas (Cacho) vows to commit suicide––a path that proves far less straightforward than he originally anticipated. Cuarón’s talents are still in their fledgling state here, but the atmosphere he whips up with the help of costars Dobrina Liubomirova, Luz Maria Jerez, and Claudia Ramírez is frothily alluring. Liubomirova in particular looks stellar in her role as a jilted nurse who plots revenge after an evening of lustful abandon.