Deseo - Desire Always Has a Price

Deseo starts with an idea that is certainly not new: a couple hollowed out by routine who have forgotten the joys of sex. The desire of the beautiful Lucero to feel desired again leads her to cross a line with a proposal to her husband Fernando that goes far beyond simple marital transgression.

His less-than-enthusiastic reaction pushes her even further to fantasize about a relationship with Matias, her teenage daughter's swimming instructor. When erotic dreams turn into reality, nothing that seems will prove to be what it truly is, opening a rift destined to widen far beyond infidelity.

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A Spiral of Deception

The first part patiently builds an atmosphere of tension and increasingly fragile family relationships. More than on eroticism, the film insists on the characters' discomfort, highlighting the weight of conventions and appearances. Ludwika Paleta carries the narrative with a measured performance, while José María Yazpik portrays a husband difficult to decipher until the central developments.

When revelations and double-crosses enter the scene, Deseo progressively changes its nature. The analysis of relationships gives way to the mechanisms of a thriller, where it would seem to be a kind of Fatal Attraction in reverse, but the twists continuously alter the balance, partly sacrificing the credibility of the characters. In fact, some narrative turns appear functional to suspense rather than to the psychological evolution of the story.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere remains effective, reflecting the emotional emptiness of the protagonist family through modern settings and aseptic spaces. Certainly, more daring should have been shown in the first part, making Lucero's sexual drive even more credible. The ending also offers an interesting insight, showing how a shared secret can transform into something else, even though the "who did what" of the moment is understood all too soon.

Deseo is a thriller that is elegant in its intentions and only partly convincing, losing its impact especially when it should complete the journey of its protagonists. Its plot is not without echoes of '80s erotic thrillers, with Body Heat by Kasdan resurfacing especially in the way desire drags the protagonists into a spiral of lies and consequences. All in all, the work is more intriguing for its initial ideas than for the way it chooses to carry them through to the credits.