Woman of the Port is a landmark film that was compared to the contemporaneous French style of poetic realism in its intense fatalism, its social candor, and the luminous, atmospheric camerawork of Alex Phillips. Mexican critic Carlos Monsiváis cites it as "the first singular Mexican film, absolutely personal." It is an early entry in the cabaretera genre, and Rosario (played by Dietrich-inspired Andrea Palma) is typical of the heroine who is forced by poverty and betrayal into prostitution. But that is only part of the story, which undergoes a "sea change" as it moves from Rosario's rural idyll-turned-nightmare (played out against the joyous rumbas of Carnival in Veracruz); to a sailor's world and the port. Rosario is a shadowy, sexy barfly, and the film takes another strange (but in the social context, not surprising) turn in a tragic climax hinging on inadvertent incest. Devotees of the modern director Arturo Ripstein will know why he chose to film a remake of Woman of the Port.