Roma is a 2018 Mexican drama film written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who also produced, shot, and co-edited it. Set in 1970 and 1971, Roma follows the life of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family, as a semi-autobiographical take on Cuarón’s upbringing in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. The film stars Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.
The film had its world premiere at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on 30 August 2018, where it won the Golden Lion. It began a limited theatrical run in the United States on 21 November 2018, before streaming on Netflix in the US and other territories starting on 14 December 2018. The film received universal acclaim, with particular praise given to Cuarón’s screenplay, direction and cinematography, as well as Aparicio’s and de Tavira’s performances. It has several critics regarding it as the best films of 2018.
Roma received a number of accolades, with ten nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, among them Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress (Aparicio) and Best Supporting Actress (de Tavira). It became the first Mexican entry to win Best Foreign Language Film, and also won for Best Cinematography and Best Director, becoming the first foreign language film to win in the last category, as well as marking the first time a director won Best Cinematography for his or her own film. It was tied with The Favourite as the most-nominated film of the show, and with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) for the most Academy Award nominations ever received by a non-English language film. It also won Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, Best Picture and Best Director at the 24th Critics’ Choice Awards, and Best Film, Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Direction and Best Cinematography at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards.
Plot
In 1970, Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez is an indigenous live-in maid in an affluent household in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. She and another maid, Adela, speak Mixtec when they are together, but Spanish in the presence of the family: matriarch Sofía; her husband, Antonio; her mother Teresa; and their four young children. When Antonio, a doctor, remains in Quebec after a conference, the problems in his and Sofia’s marriage become apparent.
When Cleo tells her boyfriend Fermín that she thinks she is pregnant, he abandons her at a movie theatre. Sofía takes her to get checked at the hospital where they confirm her pregnancy. She then takes Cleo and the children to a family friend’s hacienda for New Year’s. Both the landowners and the workers mention recent tensions over land in the area. During the celebrations, a fire erupts in the forest and everyone works together to extinguish it.
Back in the city, Cleo and Teresa see Antonio and his new, younger girlfriend at a movie theatre. Sofía tries to conceal her husband’s infidelity from the children, but her second son later learns the truth by eavesdropping. Cleo tracks down Fermín, who refuses to acknowledge that the baby is his. He threatens to beat her and their child if they try to find him again.
Ribera de San Cosme avenue and Lauro Aguirre street, where the Corpus Christi massacre occurred. The building that was the furniture store and school in the film is now a gym.
With the baby almost due, Teresa takes Cleo shopping for a crib. The store is overrun by a battle between student protestors and the paramilitary group Los Halcones (The Hawks). The gunmen kill one demonstrator, and Fermín, who is a member of Los Halcones, holds a gun on Cleo before fleeing.
Due to the stress, Cleo’s water breaks. The ongoing clashes between students and Los Halcones slows her attempt to get to the hospital. When she does arrive, Antonio briefly appears to reassure Cleo, but quickly leaves. Cleo’s baby girl is stillborn.
Sofia takes Cleo and the children on a family holiday to the beaches at Tuxpan. She tells the children that she and their father are separated, and that the holiday was so their father can collect his belongings from their home. At the beach, two of the children are almost carried off by a strong current. Cleo wades in to save them, even though she does not know how to swim. As Sofía and the children affirm their love for Cleo for such selfless devotion, she tearfully reveals that she had not wanted her baby to be born. They return home to Roma to find the house reorganized. Cleo prepares a load for washing, telling Adela they have much to talk about.
Cast
Yalitza Aparicio as Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez, one of the family’s maids
Marina de Tavira as Sofía, the mother of the family
Fernando Grediaga as Antonio, Sofía’s absent husband
Jorge Antonio Guerrero as Fermín, Cleo’s lover
Marco Graf as Pepe
Daniela Demesa as Sofi
Diego Cortina Autrey as Toño
Carlos Peralta as Paco
Nancy García as Adela, Cleo’s friend, and one of the family’s maids
Verónica García as Teresa, Sofía’s mother
José Manuel Guerrero Mendoza as Ramón, Adela’s lover
Latin Lover as Professor Zovek
Allen Borrelli as the American Military Trainer
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