3. Solo Con Tu Pareja (1991)
Cuaron's break out film was a Spanish film called Solo Con Tu Pareja, a twisted love story in which two people spurned by their partners, become depressed and attempt suicide together. This film follows Tomas Tomas, a serial womanizer, as he goes from woman to woman, and his interactions with his neighbour and doctor, Mateo Mateos. The playboy Tomas Tomas once again traps another woman under his spell, this time it's Mateo Mateos' attractive nurse Silvia Silva. However, at the same time, Tomas' boss Gloria Gold, visits him at the same time forcing Tomas to put Gloria in Mateo's apartment while Mateo and his wife are away. During the night, Tomas crosses from apartment to apartment, trying to string both women along. The following day, Mateo tells Silvia the story of finding Tomas in his apartment with another woman, without being aware that Silvia had been in Tomas' apartment. To get revenge on Tomas for cheating on her, Silvia changes the results of Tomas' medical test, showing a positive result to HIV Aids. At the same time, Tomas appears to be falling for his attractive neighbour, Clarissa, a flight attendant. As Tomas spirals into depression, and attempts to commit suicide, his downward spiral is matched by that of Clarissa, who discovers her fiancee cheating cheating on her with a flight attendant from a different air line. Despite Tomas' love for Clarissa the two vow to commit suicide together, going to the top of a tall building. This film is equal parts romance, tragedy and comedy, with the audience following the highs and lows of Tomas' playboy life, and while initially disliking his attitude towards the people around him, when he falls in love with his neighbour Cuaron still manages to get the audience to feel for him, believing that with Tomas truly finding the one, he isn't as loathsome as he was previously. At the same time, we are drawn from being sympathetic towards Silvia, to the end where she is portrayed as the bad character after her treatment of Tomas. The film is filled with comic moments, from Tomas' initial attempts to kill himself, including sticking his head in the microwave, to the comic relief in Mateo's Japanese colleagues, Koyi and Takeshi. Cuaron hooks us into a world that is filled with a gritty reality, dealing with cheating, womanising, drinking and suicide, in what would become Cuaron's signature style throughout his movies, but at the same time he keeps the audience laughing and the movie still retains a lighthearted feel.