Buy Doña Herlinda and Her Son on DVD

Doña Herlinda and Her Son

DVD

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Usually ships in
5-10 days

$13.49 (10% off)
List Price: ~~$14.99~~

When new special editions or price reductions are announced.

Synopsis

Dona Herlinda is a wonderful comedy about a mother who just wants the best husband for her son.

Review

A funny and subversively heartwarming love story about Dona Herlinda, a shrewd yet always placid mother who wishes for her son only that he live happily with Mom, his wife... and another man if need be. Her son, a sexually confused surgeon, is having a relationship with Ramon, a handsome music student. When Mom realizes that their relationship is romantic and deep, she helps things out by inviting her son's lover to stay with them, reasoning "Rodolfo has such a large bed!" A wickedly funny and uplifting Mexican comedy-of-manners which sympathetically portrays gay love. (Spanish with English subtitles)

Product Format Information

DVD : $13.49

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Region Code: 1
UPC: 712267100620

Studio : Strand Releasing

Languages: Spanish Dolby Digital (Primary) , English Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Full-Frame

Customer Reviews

A Really Good Movie

Amos Lassen wrote on 12/17/2011:

I really love it when I enjoy a movie from start to finish and “Dona Herlinda and her Son’ is one of those movies. Now Strand Releasing a new digitally remastered DVD of the film and that is wonderful news because the older disk is flawed and takes some of the fun away from the film.

Here is a compassionate satire on both appearances and acceptance. The film was originally made in 1985 and looking at it now, I realized how far ahead of its time that it was.

Guadalupe del Toro is the heroine as she plays Rodolfo’s mother and she invites his friend Ramon to live with them in their large home in Guadalajara and explains that her son has a large bedroom and she insists that Ramon is a member of the family. In fact when Rodolfo marries and leaves the house, she convinces Ramon to stay on. Even with the marriage, everyone knows that the two men are lovers. Herlinda pretends that she does not know this even when she walks in on them being intimate. She is the one that pushes the men together.

I think what makes the movie so endearing is its openness and sincerity and the viewer must overlook the flaws and sit back and enjoy it for what it is—a wonderful love story. It is well thought out and original. I imagine it was quite scandalous in Mexico when it first came out because homosexuality was only spoken about there in whispers, The situation that the movie presents is universal—it just happens to take place in Mexico. I think the camera work is amazing and the movie gives us a look at how homosexuality was regarded in Mexico.

Dona Herlinda is special; there are not and have not been many women like her. She is a widow who only wants her son to be happy. The fact that her son is gay and will not give her grandchildren is not a problem for her. Rodolfo does whatever his mother says and she projects a kind of naïve innocence but still manages to commandeer her son’s actions without his realizing it. The gay relationship is given to us in a warm way with no value judgments and we see that happiness is the most important attribute of family. We also get a commentary on Mexican society.

All of the cast turn in wonderful performances in this movie which very probably be regarded as one of the milestones in gay cinema.