Queering the Canon: THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS (1978)
Selected by Mexico in 1978 as its Oscar entry, Arturo Ripstein’s formidable film follows Manuela—the owner of a bordello in remote El Olivo—as a returning outsider awakens buried memories that threaten the tumbleweed town’s fragile peace.
Description
2K Restoration
Adapted from José Donoso’s iconic novel, THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS centers its story on Manuela and her daughter who run a fading brothel in the remote setting of El Olivo, Mexico. As the tumbleweed town withers, an unwelcome visitor—once treated as family by the town’s mayor—returns and stirs long‑buried tensions that threaten its fragile peace. Manuela, rejected and mislabeled by those around her, navigates a world ruled by machismo and prejudice. Her resilience and luminous spirit make her the emotional core of a community pushed to the brink.
Selected by Mexico as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards, Arturo Ripstein’s THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS is a gripping portrait of dignity and survival in a place determined to extinguish it.
The in-person screening will be followed by a Q&A with Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer (Screen Slate, Le Cinéma Club)
Part of Queering the Canon: We’re Out Here
Director
Arturo Ripstein
Producer
CONACITE II
Writer
Arturo Ripstein, based on the novel by José Donoso
Cast
Roberto Cobo Calambres, Ana Martin, Gonzalo Vega, Lucha Villa, Fernando Soler, Julián Pastor, Blanca Torres, Carmen Salinas, Hortensia Santoveña y Emma Roldán