Deep Crimson 4K 1996 Director's Cut

Coral, a depressed fat woman and mother of two young children, was deceived by Nicolas, a disillusioned marriage swindler and petty crook who called himself a pure-blooded Spaniard and strongly resembled French movie star Charles Boyer.

Coral's revenge takes a terrible and sophisticated form: abandoning her own children, she begins to accompany the aging gigolo (who maniacally covers his bald head with a wig) everywhere, finding in him, despite everything, an object of adoration. Uncontrollable passion awakens in Coral the calculating and vengeful Lady Macbeth.

Together with Nicolas, she sets off on a journey through the remote areas of Mexico. Posing as Spanish missionaries, brother and sister, they kill one after another the women seduced by Nicolas. It would seem impossible to feel sympathy for such a couple, but paradoxically, in the end, the murderous lovers evoke not disgust or even pity, but compassion.

When heartless police officers, too lazy to investigate the series of murders, cold-bloodedly deal with the lovers, the intensity of emotions reaches a Shakespearean scale. And the explosive mixture of grand guignol and criminal melodrama ultimately turns into a romantic tragedy with a cathartic catharsis.

Arturo Ripstein, author of thirteen films (at that time), was the most significant figure among Mexican directors of the late 20th century. Following the famous ‘Queen of the Night’, he made a film in which the indelible power of Buñuel's intonations can once again be seen. His films categorically refute the idea of Mexico as a directory that produces nothing but soap operas.

Deep Crimson breathes with genuine passion: the inflamed, rejected feelings of lonely women, eager to express their emotions, clash with the fatal and insurmountable determination to kill two lonely and cruel hearts, forming a vicious circle of doomed love on the edge of the abyss. The presence of fate is also evident in the fact that the killers gain no material benefit: the revenge on the women who trusted them does not make them rich.

In this strange way, they remove the obstacles in their path that prevent their final union in a last deadly embrace on a country road in the Mexican wilderness. The tragic effect is further enhanced by David Mansfield's mundane, falsely peaceful music, as well as the incredible work with color by cinematographer Guillermo Granillo, who, throughout the film, replaces the yellow color with a blood-red haze that oppresses the consciousness.