María Candelaria, winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, was the first film to bring international recognition to the Mexican cinema of Emilio "El Indio" Fernández and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. It is exemplary of their combined aesthetic, which was comparable to the murals of Rivera and Siqueiros in stark images that seem to resonate with the emotional history of a people whose tragedies are played out against the myriad details of village life. María (Dolores del Río), a simple flower seller who hopes to marry her sweetheart, Lorenzo (Pedro Armendáriz), is harassed by the villagers for being the daughter of a "fallen" woman. A visiting artist, struck by her beauty which he says embodies the purity of the Mexican race, asks her to pose for a painting, and although he superimposes her head on the body of another model, the people are outraged at the nude painting that results. María is stoned to death. The story is told in flashback by the artist who recognizes that his intrusion provoked this tragedy.