Delighting in the details, Ernesto Contreras has crafted a midlife twist on the Rohmerian comedy of manners. After winning a holiday, Cecilia Suárez discovers she has to take a companion and bumps into the equally lonely Enrique Arreola, who insists he’s an old classmate.
The couple’s dates are excruciatingly authentic, with a romantic picnic lapsing into awkward silence and a dancehall excursion nearly ending in humiliation when their table is given to some trendier customers. Yet love somehow finds a way, and it says much for the nuanced script, charming turns and discreet direction that this gentlest of rom-coms manages to avoid mawkishness.