Amar te Duele (Loving You Hurts) is a Mexican film released in 2002.
The film deals with two Mexico City teenagers who fall in love with each other: Renata (Martha Higareda), a rich white girl, and Ulises (Luis Fernando Peña), a poor indigenous boy. Because of their class and racial differences, society will do everything to keep them apart.
The story also depicts how the Mexican upper and lower class interact and their prejudices and discrimination against each other.
This movie provides examples of:
- Catholic School Girls Rule: Renata, her sister, and her friends, attend an all-girls exclusive Catholic school, as expected, they are shown engaging in heavy underage drinking and doing drugs.
- Chekhov's Gun: Francisco's gun.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The scenes inside the shopping mall Renata and Ulises meet, used to contrast the luxurious environment and the poverty of Ulises and his friends.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title could be interpreted as either Amar te duele (Loving hurts you) or Amarte duele (Loving you hurts). When written on posters, it's usually kept ambiguous, as in the page image.
- Downer Ending: Renata dies from a gunshot from Francisco.
- Hope Spot: Near the end Renata and Ulises are just about to run away together by boarding a bus cue Mariana and Francisco with a gun.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: At the end, Francisco confronts Ulises and Renata threatening them with a handgun, when Ulises is not intimidated by it, Francisco attempts to shoot Ulises but due to his firearms inexperience he shoots Renata instead.
- Jerkass: Francisco, in his Establishing Character Moment he purposely drives over a puddle of water splashing the bystanders of a bus stop, while his' and Renata's friends cheer on him for doing it, Renata is visibly disgusted by it.
- Love at First Sight: Renata and Ulises can't keep their eyes from each other the moment they see each other through the glass of a store.
- Love Hurts: It's in the title, both leads suffer greatly during the movie.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: The relationship between a white girl and an indigenous boy is not well received by pretty much anybody; it exacerbates their economic differences.
- Misplaced Retribution: Played for Drama: After Ulises receives his No Holds Barred Beat Down, at the hands of Francisco's bodyguards, one of Ulises friends organizes a mob against them in retaliation, but they end up savagely beating the brother of one of Renata's friends, which both estranges her from her friends and causes her family to isolate her.
- N-Word Privileges: The Mexican variant, as Francisco and Mariana pejoratively call Ulises "Naco
" or " Aboriginal". And when the mother of both Mariana and Renata calls her out on this, she just says "That's how these people are called!". - No Holds Barred Beat Down: Francisco has his bodyguards to brutally beating Ulises in front of Renata and her schoolmates.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Francisco, who's hinted to be the son of an influential politician, and Ulises, whose family dedicates to the selling of clothes in a bazaar, vie for the affections of Renata.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: See Hope Spot and Downer Ending.
- Spoiled Brat: Francisco who is a Jerkass who doesn't hesitate to send his bodyguards to beat Ulises. And Renata's sister, Mariana, who's prejudiced, vain, superficial and alcoholic to boot
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Renata and Ulises since both their families try to keep them apart, and see Downer Ending.
