Queering the Canon: THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS (1978)

Adapted from José Donoso’s iconic novel, THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS centers its story on Manuela and her daughter who run a fading brothel in the remote setting of El Olivo, Mexico. As the tumbleweed town withers, an unwelcome visitor—once treated as family by the town’s mayor—returns and stirs long‑buried tensions that threaten its fragile peace. Manuela, rejected and mislabeled by those around her, navigates a world ruled by machismo and prejudice. Her resilience and luminous spirit make her the emotional core of a community pushed to the brink. Selected by Mexico as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards, Arturo Riptein’s THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS is a gripping portrait of dignity and survival in a place determined to extinguish it.

  • Roberto Cobo Calambres, Ana Martin, Gonzalo Vega, Lucha Villa, Fernando Soler, Julián Pastor, Blanca Torres, Carmen Salinas, Hortensia Santoveña y Emma Roldán
  • Arturo Ripstein
  • Arturo Ripstein, based on the novel by José Donoso
  • CONACITE II
  • 1978
  • Mexico
  • 110 minutes
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