Préstame tu cuerpo

SOME MILD SPOILERS.

One of the greatest comedies made during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, back when American companies bought the films to their worldwide theatrical distribution, is without a doubt "Préstame tu cuerpo".

The plot is charming. An exotic dancer on a tour in Cuba, Leonor (Silvia Pinal, one of our greatest actresses of all time), suffers and accident in a boat. She's sent to "the place between Heaven and Hell", only to discover that her "accidental" death was all a mistake made by her guardian angel, Simplicia. So she gets a second chance to spend her remaining 40 years on Earth by possessing the body of a recently deceased girl. She wants a hot body though, because (in one of the most brilliant acts of self-mockery in the History of cinema) she knows she is not that good of a singer.

So, she ends up possessing the body of an upper-class uptight scientist Regina (the same Pinal in a glorious second role), who is bound in a disastrous marriage to the millionaire Manuel (the legendary theater producer Manolo Fabregas, offering one of the best performances ever by a Mexican actor). But she makes everyone believe she's got amnesia. That's when the fun starts. She calls her former secretary, Romualdo, by the name of Pepe, and claims that he's her boyfriend. In the other hand she claims that her boss is now her father, and that her husband, Manuel, is her secretary, Manolo.

Exiled Argentinian director Demicheli directs with wit and grace this lovely film. Never before and I think never after has a happy menage-a-trois been implied so openly in mainstream Mexican Films. The Servant becomes the Master thing makes the deal even funnier, with some of the best lines and gags coming from the battle of power between Manuel and his secretary-now boss Romualdo.

Even though the film's ending sticks to the safe ground of the morale of the conservative (but wealthy) 1950's, Fabregas and Pinal show some explosive and authentic sexual tension which is ready to ignite your screen anytime and provide sincere and powerful laughters too.

7/10.