The Venice Film Festival has announced the titles for its Venezia Classici section—dedicated to world premieres of restorations of classic films—for its 75th edition, which will include the 1977 Mexican film El lugar sin límites / Hell Without Limits by Arturo Ripstein.
Based on the novel of the same name by Chilean writer José Donoso and scripted by Argentine writer Manuel Puig, the film marked a milestone in Mexican cinema in its unprecedentedly depiction of homosexuality and violent homophobia. Hell Without Limits follows Manuela, a flamboyant transvestite (performed by Roberto Cobo, who had played the role of El Jaibo in Buñuel's classic Los Olvidados) who owns the local bordello in a small impoverished town.
The local rich-man, don Alejo is buying everyone their places, but when the old man tries to purchase the whorehouse, he finds opposition from la Japonesita, who is believed to be la Manuela's daughter with the former madam, la Japonesa grande, a now-deceased prostitute. However, now Manuela is deeply concerned with the arrival of Pancho Vega, a muscular and quarrelsome drifter who is fixed on having a closer meeting with her.
The 75th edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place August 29 - September 8 in Italy.
