After Alfonso Cuarón and his brother Carlos Cuarón wrote the script, they needed to secure financing. The government of Mexico's IMCINE (Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía) had already decided what films they would finance that year. However, one of the projects was canceled and the IMCINE funds were assigned to Sólo con tu pareja.
After the film was completed, the Mexican government refused to distribute it, but Sólo con tu pareja was presented at several international festivals. It won awards at the Ariel Awards (by the Mexican Academy of Film) and at the Toronto Festival of Festivals.[1] After this international recognition the movie was finally shown in 1993 in its country of origin, where it became a box-office success. It occupies the 87th place on the list of the 100 best movies of the cinema of Mexico.
In 2006, Criterion Collection released Sólo con tu pareja in DVD (Region 1), with a new remastered transfer and with the shorts Noche de Bodas by Carlos Cuarón and Cuarteto Para el Fin Del Tiempo (Alfonso Cuarón's first short, made when he was a film student in 1983).
Plot
Tomás Tomás, a womanizing bachelor who works in advertising, is having an affair with his boss Gloria. After visiting his doctor Mateo, who is also his friend and neighbor, he is struck by the new nurse Silvia and starts an affair with her too. When she finds out about Gloria, she falsifies the results of his blood test, notifying him that he has AIDS. He meanwhile has been struck by his neighbour Clarisa, a flight attendant engaged to a pilot Carlos, but realizes he cannot pursue her now.
In despair at his fate, he decides to commit suicide. While contemplating various methods, Clarisa bursts in in despair. She has found Carlos in bed with another woman and wants to end her life, so the two decide to go to the Torre Latinoamericana and jump from the top. Tomás leaves a voice message for Mateo and in the middle of the night the pair set off. When Mateo gets the message among friends at a party, he rushes to the Torre with the whole group, including his wife Teresa, Carlos, and Silvia.
At the top, Tomás tells Clarisa he loves her but can go no further because he has AIDS. She says, since they are both about to die, that does not now matter and the two make ecstatic love. Climbing the emergency stairs, Silvia calls out that the blood test was not positive. Instead of jumping, the lovers think about marrying.
