Y tu mamá también (
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
: "And your mother, too") is a
2001The year 2001 in film involved some significant events. -Top-grossing films:...
Mexican
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
directed by
Alfonso CuarónAlfonso Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his works include Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Little Princess and Children of Men.-Early life:Cuarón was born in México City...
and written by
Carlos CuarónCarlos José Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is the brother of Alfonso Cuarón.- Biography :...
. The film is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a
road tripA road trip is a journey via automobile, sometimes unplanned or impromptu, or a journey involving sporting game away from home , thus encompassing any journey by automobile, regardless of stops en route.-Origins of the road trip:...
with a woman in her late twenties. The film is set in 1999, against the backdrop of the political and economic realities of present-day
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, specifically at the end of the uninterrupted 71-year line of
Mexican presidents from the
Institutional Revolutionary PartyThe Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that wielded power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the...
, and the rise of the opposition headed by
Vicente FoxVicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected President of Mexico in the...
.
The film is known for its controversial, unabashed depiction of
sexualitySexuality may refer to:*Human sexuality**Human male sexuality**Human female sexuality*Sex in biology*Gender identity; how someone identifies themselves in terms of gender*Sexual orientation*Animal sexual behaviour*Plant sexualityIn music:...
, which caused complications in the film's rating certificate in various countries.
Y tu mamá también (
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
: "And your mother, too") is a
2001The year 2001 in film involved some significant events. -Top-grossing films:...
Mexican
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
directed by
Alfonso CuarónAlfonso Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his works include Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Little Princess and Children of Men.-Early life:Cuarón was born in México City...
and written by
Carlos CuarónCarlos José Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is the brother of Alfonso Cuarón.- Biography :...
. The film is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a
road tripA road trip is a journey via automobile, sometimes unplanned or impromptu, or a journey involving sporting game away from home , thus encompassing any journey by automobile, regardless of stops en route.-Origins of the road trip:...
with a woman in her late twenties. The film is set in 1999, against the backdrop of the political and economic realities of present-day
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, specifically at the end of the uninterrupted 71-year line of
Mexican presidents from the
Institutional Revolutionary PartyThe Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that wielded power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the...
, and the rise of the opposition headed by
Vicente FoxVicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected President of Mexico in the...
.
The film is known for its controversial, unabashed depiction of
sexualitySexuality may refer to:*Human sexuality**Human male sexuality**Human female sexuality*Sex in biology*Gender identity; how someone identifies themselves in terms of gender*Sexual orientation*Animal sexual behaviour*Plant sexualityIn music:...
, which caused complications in the film's rating certificate in various countries. The film was released in English-speaking markets under its original
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
title, rather than the literal translation to English, and opened in a
limited releaseLimited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the United States in 2002. In Mexico, the film took in $2.2 million in its first weekend in June 2001, making it the highest
box officeA box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall, or at a wicket...
opening in Mexican cinema history.
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the film went on to gain nominations for
Best Original ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards...
at the
Academy AwardsThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
, as well as a nomination for
Best Foreign Language FilmThe Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
at the Golden Globe Awards that year.
Primary cast
- Maribel Verdú
Maribel Verdú is a Spanish actress. She is perhaps best known to English-speaking audiences playing the roles of Luisa in the 2001 film Y tu mamá también and Mercedes in Guillermo del Toro's 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth...
: Luisa Cortés
- Gael García Bernal
Gael García Bernal is a Mexican actor and director.-Early life:García Bernal was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, the son of Patricia Bernal, an actress and former model, and José Angel García, an actor and director. His stepfather is Sergio Yazbek, who his mother married when García Bernal was young...
: Julio Zapata
- Diego Luna
Diego Luna is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films...
: Tenoch Iturbide
- Diana Bracho: Silvia Allende de Iturbide
- Andrés Almeida: Diego "Saba" Madero
All of the principal characters share surnames with protagonists from Mexico's post-Columbian history – Spanish conquistador
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century...
, Mexican emperor
Agustín de IturbideAgustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Aramburu was a Mexican Army General who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821; decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence...
, Mexican revolutionary
Emiliano ZapataEmiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz...
, Mexican president Francisco Madero – or pre-Columbian history (
Tenochtitlan--Please DO NOT change the spelling of "Tenochtitlan" to "Tenochtitlán"There are some towns in Mexico which are spelled "Tenochtitlán", like San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, in which case the accent is used. However, the Aztec capital is not spelled that way in either Spanish --Please DO NOT change the...
, the Aztec capital).
Plot
The film combines straightforward storytelling with periodic interruptions of the soundtrack, during which the action continues, but a narrator provides additional out-of-context information about the characters, events, or setting depicted. In addition to expanding on the narrative, these "footnotes" sometimes draw attention to economic/political issues in Mexico, especially the situation of the poor in rural areas of the country.
The story itself focuses on two boys at the threshold of adulthood: Julio (Gael García Bernal), from a leftist middle-class family, and Tenoch (Diego Luna), whose father is a high-ranking political official. The film opens with scenes of each boy having sex with his girlfriend one last time before the girls leave on a trip to Italy. Without their girlfriends around, the boys quickly become bored.
At a wedding, they meet Luisa (Maribel Verdú), the Spanish wife of Tenoch's cousin Jano, and attempt to impress the older woman with talk of an invented secluded beach called
la Boca del Cielo ("Heaven's Mouth"). She initially declines their invitation to go there with them, but changes her mind following a phone call in which Jano tearfully confesses cheating on her.
Although Julio and Tenoch have little idea where to find the promised beach, the three set off for it, driving through poor, rural Mexico. They pass the time by talking about their relationships and sexual experiences, with the boys largely boasting about their modest exploits, and Luisa speaking in more measured terms about Jano and wistfully of her first teenage love, who died in an accident.
On an overnight stop she telephones Jano, leaving a "goodbye note" on his answering machine. Tenoch goes to her motel room looking for shampoo, but finds her crying. She seduces him, and he awkwardly but enthusiastically has sex with her. Julio sees this from the open doorway, and angrily tells Tenoch that he's had sex with his girlfriend. The next day Luisa tries to even the score by having (equally awkward) sex with Julio; Tenoch then reveals he had sex with Julio's girlfriend. The boys begin to fight, until Luisa threatens to leave them.
By chance they find an isolated beach. They gradually relax and enjoy the beach and the company of a local family. In the nearby village, Luisa makes a final phone call to Jano, bidding him an affectionate but final farewell.
That evening, the three drink excessively and joke recklessly about their sexual transgressions, revealing that the two boys have frequently had sex with the same women (their girlfriends, as well as Luisa). "Y tu mamá también," Julio jests to Tenoch. The three dance together sensually, then retire to their room. They begin to undress and grope drunkenly, both boys focusing their attentions on Luisa. As she kneels and stimulates them both, they grasp and kiss each other passionately.
The next morning, Luisa rises early, leaving the boys to wake up together, naked. They immediately turn away from each other, and are eager to return home. The narrator explains that they did so quietly and uneventfully, but Luisa stayed behind to explore the beaches. He further relates that the boys' girlfriends broke up with them, they started dating other girls, and they stopped seeing each other.
The final scene follows a chance encounter a year later, in 2000, the year that the
Institutional Revolutionary PartyThe Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that wielded power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the...
lost the first election in 71 years. They are having a perfunctory cup of coffee together, catching up on each other's lives and news of their friends. Tenoch informs Julio that Luisa died of cancer a month after their trip, and that she knew she was ill the whole time that the three were together. Tenoch excuses himself, and they never see each other again.
Soundtrack listing
Reception
Y tu mamá también was well-received by
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
critics on its original release. The film ranking website
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
reported that 91% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 127. At
MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a
normalizedIn statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an
averageThe weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 88, based on 35 reviews.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
gave the film four stars out of four, and referred to it as "One of those movies where 'after that summer, nothing would ever be the same again.' Yes, but it redefines 'nothing.'"
Y tu mamá también won awards such as the
Venice Film FestivalThe Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice,...
best screenplay award. It was also a runner-up for the
National Society of Film CriticsThe National Society of Film Critics or NSFC is an American film critic organization. The NSFC currently consists of approximately 60 members who write for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers as of December 2007.-History:...
Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and was nominated for the 2002 Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. The film made its U.S. premiere at the
Hawaii International Film FestivalThe Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...
.
Movie rating systems in various countries treated the film very differently. It was released without a rating in the U.S. because the distributors believed that a market-limiting NC-17 would be unavoidable. Ratings boards in countries such as
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
regarded the film fit to be seen by twelve-year-olds. The MPAA's presumed treatment of this film based on the depiction of sexuality – especially in comparison to its much more accepting standards regarding violence – prompted critic
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
to question why movie industry professionals were not outraged: "Why do serious film people not rise up in rage and tear down the rating system that infantilizes their work?"
Awards
Nominations
- Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay (Carlos Cuarón
Carlos José Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is the brother of Alfonso Cuarón.- Biography :...
& Alfonso CuarónAlfonso Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his works include Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Little Princess and Children of Men.-Early life:Cuarón was born in México City...
)
- BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay (Carlos Cuarón & Alfonso Cuarón)
- BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language
- Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media has been awarded since 1960. Until 2001 the award was presented to the composer of the music alone. From 2001 to 2006, the producer and engineers shared in this award...