Images and the men speak for themselves in this lively, slyly deceptive and ultimately devastating exploration of machismo in Latin American society. The difference between macho conventions and masculinity, like the gulf between love and romance, emerges gradually, "like a realization," as one critic noted, as we watch a parade of virgin brides and prostitutes emanating from young boys' minds; and the courting rituals-debutante parties, balcony serenades, elaborate church weddings-that proceed from segregated Catholic school upbringings. "Sarmiento told her subjects, mostly men, that she was making a documentary about Latin American romanticism, not machismo. Their candid responses strip the bachelors bare" (Film Comment). It is a fitting little lie coming from Sarmiento, a frequent collaborator with her husband Raúl Ruiz, and the director of the 1984 feature Notre Mariage (Our Marriage), which exploited the purple prose of a Spanish romance novel to Buñuelian ends.