A lot of reviews here assert that the sex scenes in this film are gratuitous and unnecessary, and I think those individuals may have missed the point of the film.Arriaga intended this story to be a conviction of sorts of the younger generation, who he sees as eschewing emotional and intellectual intimacy and using sex to fill the void. Sex is the primary language these characters speak, and it is also the evidence for which they are charged.Manuel does not have a very high regard for women. In the film, we see him use women for lust, for comfort, for anger, and for a bastardized form of love which I'll get to.After Gregorio is driven to suicide, he leaves a box for Manuel, who has been engaged in a years-long affair with Gregorio's girlfriend, Tania. In flashbacks, he shows little guilt, but when he receives the box, his guilt manifests as Gregorio's madness; he sees earwigs crawling on him, but they always disappear.The box contains notes and photos depicting things Gregorio could not possibly know: omens of Manuel's tryst with Gregorio's sister, Margarita, and things Manuel and Tania said to each other behind closed doors. More notes are delivered by Gregorio's friend Jacinto, who becomes the proxy by which Gregorio haunts Manuel from beyond the grave and protects Tania from being pulled down into Manuel's madness.As Manuel becomes further and further unhinged, we see that his love for Tania is hardly love at all, but is contingent upon her love for him. He loves her only because she loves him, and whenever he doubts her love, he becomes angry, violent, or distant with her.Their relationship culminates in a bizarre sex scene, the symbolism of which I'm still unsure about. After that, Manuel's life falls apart completely. Everyone leaves him, including Tania, but her parting words of love leave Manuel something to cling to in his coming solitude.If you like erotic dramas, this film does not disappoint. Apart from the scene described earlier, it isn't very difficult to understand, which is why some of the other reviews here confuse me a bit. It isn't an instant favorite of mine, but it is quite good, and I'd recommend a watch for any lovers of the genre.

I truly had high hopes with this film, but it turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments ever.Its visual style tries desperate to imitate "Amores Perros" but it fails. Its director has so much to give, and I expect to watch his next film, because I think he has potential.So why do I give it a 6/10 when it's pure garbage? Mainly because of the acting, which is great, specially Diego Luna. I also kind of liked cinematography and film editing. And yet, the screenplay is awful, full of corny lines, pretentious and empty, vacuum. What did it tried to tell us?You never get to know many things, like motivations. It tries so hard to give a message that it gets lost trying, it loses strength. Another treatment of the same story might resulted in a masterpiece, since its main theme (loneliness and the search for one self) is a great issue. Plus, it is full of unjustified nudity and sex, (***Spoiler***) like scene with Diego Luna and Camila Sodi when all of sudden she begin to undress, I mean, the woman is gorgeous but what was the point of that scene? Finally, I must accept I prefer this film over some other Mexican films, it might worth watching, but I wouldn't recommend it.

First of all I have to say that the book is really bad (Arriaga is one of the most overrated writers in Mexico) the characters are really lame, and they have nothing appealing, so after reading this crap I wasn't expecting nothing at all... But I went to see the film anyway and let me tell you that it's worse than the book, first of all, I think Diego Luna is overrated too, I have never liked him and after watching this film I think I hate him, I don't want to see him ever again, believe me that if you see him naked and having sex with all the cast you would feel the same way too... and another thing it looks that he's no good in bed...sorry!!!! For the rest of the characters they are no good, they just lay there naked, that's it. I think this film just wanted to shock us, the way Asi del precipicio did, I don't know which one is worse, no story, no substance.......nothing!!! It's a shame that they still make this kind of films in Mexico -they look like the ficheras genre- I think that they are better writers than Arriaga and better actors than Luna - I can name a lot- Anyway don't spend your time and your money in this film, because you're going to regret it... as I did

The film is terrible, the subject of the film does not have sense, music is frightful and the actors without commentaries. I hoped for another thing of this film, but not covered all my expectation, sorry that she is Mexican, but is necessary to recognize when she is good or bad, and this is garbage, literally.The film is terrible, the subject of the film does not have sense, music is frightful and the actors without commentaries. I hoped for another thing of this film, but not covered all my expectation, sorry that she is Mexican, but is necessary to recognize when she is good or bad, and this is garbage, literally.