Product Details

• Actors: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Claudia Ramírez, Luis de Icaza, Astrid Hadad, Dobrina Liubomirova
• Directors: Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Cuarón
• Writers: Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Cuarón
• Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, Carolina Fox, Fumiko Takagi, Heather Shaw
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: October 17, 2006
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000H5U5R6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,622 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Solo Con Tu Pareja (The Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A fast-paced romantic comedy, Sólo con tu pareja was director Alfonso Cuarón's ticket to a bright and promising future. Inspired by the classic screwball comedies of Ernst Lubitsch, this social satire (the title translates as "Only with Your Partner") was Cuarón's feature debut, but because it was a state-funded film that poked fun at Mexican culture, it was initially withheld from release by the Mexican government, only to become a critical and popular success when it was finally released in Mexico in 1991. (It wasn't released in the U.S. until 2006.) A remarkably polished debut, it offered ample proof that Cuarón was a talent to watch, as proven by the films Cuarón would later direct both in and out of Hollywood, including A Little Princess (1995), Great Expectations (1998), Y tu mamá también (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), and the near-future thriller Children of Men (2006). The talent behind those later films is fully evident here, and from a lively script by his brother Carlos, Cuarón concocts a frothy farce about a reckless playboy named Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho, from Almodovar's Bad Education) whose bed-hopping catches up with him when his latest conquest, a sexy nurse, falsely checks the "positive" box on his latest AIDS test to curtail Tomás's rampant womanizing.

Now wait a minute... this is a comedy with AIDS humor, from 1991? This was certainly a bold move from the Cuarón brothers, but the humor is handled with graceful style, and as Tomás grows affectionately obsessed with a gorgeous neighbor in his Mexico City apartment building, his once-thriving love life grows increasingly (and comedically) complicated. The casting is flawless, the slapstick humor is impeccably timed, and the film is technically blessed by the brilliant cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki, who supervised this high-definition digital transfer to DVD, and who followed Cuarón on a mutual path to international acclaim. Thematically enriched by Mozart's Don Giovanni (heard throughout the soundtrack), Sólo con tu pareja can now be appreciated as a well-crafted launching pad for one of the most consistently impressive filmmakers of the early 21st century. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
The Criterion Collection supplements for Sólo con tu pareja are nearly as enjoyable as the film itself. "Making Sólo con tu pareja" is a 30-minute documentary (2006) featuring in-depth interviews with Alfonso and Carlos Cuarón and lead actor Daniel Giménez Cacho. Also included is Cuarteto para el fin del tiempo, a short written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón when he was a film student in 1983; another short film, Noche de bodas ("Wedding Night"), written and directed for Mexican television by Carlos Cuarón in 2000; and the original theatrical trailer for Sólo con tu pareja. In the accompanying 28-page booklet, an essay by scholar Ryan F. Long examines the film from the perspective of Mexican culture and politics, and Carlos Cuarón contributes a detailed character history of Tomás that was written so Daniel Giménez Cacho could thoroughly understand the character he was playing. (Other character profiles are available on the Criterion Collection Web site.) It's a fascinating piece of background history, demonstrating the care and detail that went into the creation of this highly enjoyable comedy. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Before Alfonso Cuarón helmed the international sensation Y tu mamá también, he made his mark on Mexican cinema with the ribald and lightning-quick contemporary social satire Sólo con tu pareja. Don Juan-ish yuppie Tomás Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho, from Bad Education) spends his nights juggling so many beautiful women that he can’t keep their names straight—until one of his many conquests, a spurned nurse, gives him a taste of his own medicine. Beautifully filmed in widescreen by the inimitable Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World), Cuarón’s wildly successful feature debut (which has never been released in the U.S.) gave voice to a Mexican middle-class that had remained largely unseen onscreen, and surveys contemporary urban sexual mores with style to spare.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solo Con Tu Pareja, July 17, 2007

By 

John Farr - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Solo Con Tu Pareja (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

In his madcap debut film, the Mexican director of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" somehow fuses a bawdy farce in the grand Hollywood tradition with a modern commentary on HIV and mortality--and makes it work. What begins as a room-to-room sex romp--with Tomás clambering along catwalks between his apartment and that of his friend Mateo (Luis de Icaza), who's helping out in the seduction game--soon takes a sobering turn as the bird-dogging bachelor finds himself wrapped in the arms of both love and death. Assured and lively, fluidly paced and buoyantly acted, "Solo con tu pareja" is a slapstick comedy with a zesty Latin heart.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mexican Sex Farce From Criterion? We Have Alfonso Cuarón To Thank Or Blame!, April 4, 2007

By 

K. Harris "Film aficionado" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Solo Con Tu Pareja (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Criterion surely must be one of the top prestige DVD labels in circulation right now, and as such I look forward to their release schedule. Covering bona fide classics, international hits, and also championing smaller and unorthodox films, there is a lot to learned by checking into their exquisite presentations. So being a huge fan of Alfonso Cuarón's "Y tu mamá también" and having watched his evolution in American cinema (capped off by last year's "Children of Men"), I was excited to check out Criterion's presentation of an early Cuarón film--"Sólo con tu pareja." Described here by many as a romantic comedy, I'm going to call it what it is--a pretty traditional sex farce. Anyone familiar with the sex farce genre (particularly international efforts from France and Spain) will instantly recognize many of the elements (both good and bad) which seem to follow this type of film.

Any good sex farce teaches two major lessons--(1) promiscuity or irresponsible sex can be funny and (2) true love and redemption can be found in the arms of a character you either know nothing about or have nothing in common with. "Sólo con tu pareja" adheres to these lessons with precision. Following the escapades of Tomás, a copywriting Don Juan, the film instantly sets up how irresistible he is! Apparently his moderate good looks, bumbling manner, whiny behavior and inconsiderate nature are like catnip to Mexico's most beautiful women (he even beds a bride on her wedding day, rock on)! With plenty of slapstick and sexual frolicking, the first hour of this picture plays out exactly as you might imagine. Then Tomás spies his new neighbor, falls instantly in love (without speaking to her), and becomes even more clumsily endearing (or at least more clumsy).

There is an interesting twist in the film's final third. Many have already given it away, but I won't. It refreshingly tweaks the film and leads to both its funniest scenes and its outrageously staged conclusion. The film does have its amusing moments--a bit with a microwave, an advertising spoof, and a fantastic dream sequence. It is at these times, you can see real imagination at work! But overall "Sólo con tu pareja" is just a slight flight of fancy. It looks great, and the disc is impressive--but it is what it is.

I guess the bottom line is that I found "Sólo con tu pareja" to be a passable entertainment, but one I probably wouldn't recommend. It's just all too familiar (to me, at least). By itself, it's unlikely it would have joined the Criterion ranks. But Criterion has championed the earlier, and lesser, works of many modern masters including Soderbergh, Campion, Cronenberg, Anders, Anderson, and many others. I certainly don't begrudge Cuarón's inclusion on that list. If nothing else, these earlier works help show the evolution of an artist and are historically interesting even if they are somewhat flawed. If you approach "Sólo con tu pareja" with moderate expectations, you might enjoy it--but I'll stick with the simplicity and surprising sophistication of "Y tu mamá también." KGHarris, 04/07.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie, February 20, 2007

By 

Roberto Caballero - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solo Con Tu Pareja (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Excelent re-Issue of one classic of the New Mexican Cinema. I was a big fan of these movie and the careful re-issue of it did not desapoint me.
Great quality in the transfer and excelletn extras.