Tlayucan is a 1962 film from Mexico directed by Luis Alcoriza.
It is a story of life in a humble country town. Eufemio and Chabela are a young married couple with a rambunctious son, Nino. They are living hand to mouth, because Eufemio in the past has been too critical of the landowners that run the town, and as a result now struggles to find work. However, they have a sow with a litter of piglets, which they are hoping to sell when the piglets grow, after which they will buy a little land with the proceeds and grown their own crops. Eufemio suffers a financial reversal, however, when he has to fork over money to pay for the pearls that are adorning the icon of St. Lucia in the church. Then Nico gets sick...
A subplot follows Miss Prisca, a wealthy but lonely older woman. She finds love in a surprising place.
Tropes:
- Answer Cut: Eufemio has had to sell the pigs to pay his share of the pearl money, and Chabela frets that Nico will be upset. A neighbor asks where Nico is and she says "Who knows, probably crying somewhere." The film cuts to a cheerful Nico ordering strawberry ice cream with the money he's cadged from patrons at the local restaurant.
- Bathtub Scene: Or, rather, an outdoor bathing scene. Early in the film, Chabela catches her wealthy neighbor Don Tomas watching her as she bathes in the courtyard of her house, washing her upper body with her blouse halfway off. Later, as Chabela and some of the other village women are bathing in the river, they catch Don Tomas the Dirty Old Man watching again. At the end, after Chabela and Don Tomas have reached an understanding, she is again washing her upper body in the courtyard, and this time she lets him watch.
- Call-Back: Chabela is pissed off when she catches Don Tomas peeping at her while she washes her upper torso in the courtyard. At the end, this happens again, except now they've reached an understanding and she is OK with him watching, and she even sticks out a leg to wash to make it sexier.
- Dirty Old Man: Don Tomas, neighbor to Eufemio and Chabela. She catches him peeping from his balcony as she washes her upper torso off in her courtyard. Later, she and the other village women catch him peeping as they bathe in the stream. When Chabela refuses Don Tomas's offer of money for Nico's medicine in exchange for sex, she refuses and calls him a "Dirty old bastard!" At the end, after Don Tomas has paid for Nico's medicine, he confesses plainly that he's always found her beautiful and he likes to look at her. They reach an understanding and she agrees to let him look.
- Erotic Eating: Chabela demands the chunk of sugar cane that Eufemio has taken with him from the fields. She then makes a big show of raising it to her mouth and biting a piece off, all the while maintaining eye contact with Eufemio. They then adjourn to the bedroom but Nico walks in before they can have sex.
- Firing in the Air a Lot: Don Tomas has a habit of taking the bus into a bigger town and getting extremely drunk. He follows this up by drunkenly stumbling down the streets of the village after getting back, and firing a gun into the air to bother people.
- Glasses Pull: The townsfolk call in a police detective, who says that Eufemio is going to have to do some time for stealing the pearl. They collectively have second thoughts, and say that they will all help Eufemio to work off the debt. The cop then takes off his glasses to say that, if Eufemio has such good friends, he's willing to forget about the whole thing.
- Healthcare Motivation: Why Eufemio steals the pearl from the St. Lucia statue. He is flat broke, mainly from having to pay for pearls on the statue in the first place, and Nico needs antibiotics, and no one in the village will help him. He is caught immediately, as the American tourists see him do it.
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: The townsfolk suggest that the priest take the pigs and slice them all open to see which has the pearl inside. The priest says "I'm a priest, not a butcher!"
- Leg Focus: Eventually Chabela and Don Tomas reach an understanding and she decides that she's OK with him peeping at her while she bathes. At the end, she is washing and he is peeping from across the street, and she deliberately sticks out a leg to wash, while he looks on in delight.
- Moment Killer: Eufemio and Chabela are rolling around on the bed and clearly about to have sex when Nico comes charging in. Eufemio takes it well, picking up his son and playing with him.
- Old Maid: Miss Prisca, who is definitely "Señorita" Prisca despite being on the wrong side of 50. She is much hornier than old maids are usually portrayed, and very much wants a man, still.
- Scarpia Ultimatum: Chabela goes against her better instincts and asks Don Tomas for money for Nico's medicine. Don Tomas, a Dirty Old Man who she has caught peeping at her in the past, demands sex in return for the cash. She angrily refuses and stomps out.
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: Miss Prisca sees Eufemio and Chabela having sex in the woods by a stream, and goes to the priest to denounce them, yelling about how it's sinful and obscene. The priest basically shrugs and says that maybe screwing outside isn't a great idea, but Eufemio and Chabela are married. It's quite obvious that what's really bothering Miss Prisca is her own loneliness and sexual frustration and her rage at seeing other people having sex.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Chabela, for only one man. Don Tomas has a change of heart after she refuses his demand for sex, and pays for Nico's medicine anyway. Nico being better, Chabela goes to thank him, whereupon he answers that he didn't do it for her and he really doesn't care about Nico. Don Tomas says that after she rejected his proposal years ago and instead married Eufemio, he has been content to simply gaze on her beauty ever since—but while Nico has been hovering on death's door, she's been unkempt and haggard with worry. So he tells her to clean herself up and look pretty again, so he can look at her. She then looks him straight in the eye and says "I'll bathe in the river this afternoon." At the end of the movie, he is again watching her bathe in the courtyard, but this time she's ok with it and even sticks out a long leg to wash, for his viewing pleasure.
- Slouch of Villainy: Don Tomas is haphazardly slouched in his chair, one leg looped over the chair's arm, when Chabela comes in and begs for money for Nico's medicine. He proceeds to demand sex in return.
- This Cannot Be!: The priest says this (or rather he says "No puede ser!") when, after the American tourists have told him, he races back into the church and finds a pearl missing from the statue.
- "Ugly American" Stereotype: It's a mild example, but a group of female American tourists, all wearing pants, stroll right past a sign saying in Spanish that women are not allowed to wear pants in the church.
- Unishment: After her night of drunken sex with Matias the blind man, Miss Prisca is compelled to go to the priest and confess. He says that her sin is grave and she must take a heavy punishment, and then says that she has to marry Matias. The priest seems to think that this is a big punishment seeing as how Matias is not only blind but also a dirty beggar, so he is taken by surprise by her smile of joy. Miss Prisca would like nothing better than to have a husband and not be lonely anymore, and she and Matias are soon married.
- Your Mom: Matias the blind beggar is hanging out with all the other blind beggars at the church, after the icon of St. Lucia has been installed. He tells the other blind men that St. Lucia will intervene to give him sight because he's been particularly faithful. One of them says that St. Lucia won't help him because he's "black on the inside." Matias angrily responds "Black? Say that to your grandma, asshole!" He then swings his cane at the other blind man, triggering an absurd brawl in which all the other blind beggars roll around on the church steps and swing canes at each other.
