Perras


For people with the surname, see Perras.
Perras is a 2011 Mexican Drama film directed by Guillermo Ríos based on the play of the same name. Its plot revolves around 10 schoolgirls who are all suspects of something terrible that happened at school, focusing in the memories and feelings of each girl. This is the device that gives us a glimpse of the ethics, games, aesthetics and eroticism of these girl-women.
The movie was heavily promoted as a Thriller in trailers, posters and other media, but some critics found it misleading, since fits most in the drama category due to its content. The film premiered in theaters in Mexico City on March 4, 2011.

Plot

A group of private secondary schoolgirls have to remain in their classroom and wait for the police to arrive and interrogate them, since they all are suspects of something terrible that had just happened at their school. The movie begins as the initial narrator quietly sits in the back of the classroom, separated from the rest, while the others simply ignore her. As they wait, the memories and feelings of each girl are explored. Each one has a story to tell, which explains how they become connected as the movie progresses, it is gradually revealed that Maria and Sofía, although they have opposite personalities, became best friends over time, and despite Maria's initial introverted nature, she was dazzled by Sofia's free way of life, gradually accepting it as her own, to the point where she agrees to have sex with her best friend's father. As a result, she becomes pregnant, and in a desperate attempt to terminate her pregnancy, she tries to perform an abortion in the school's bathroom. The abortion results in Maria's death due to blood loss, finally revealing that she has been dead from the beginning. It is not the real Maria, but her memory that is one who has been narrating, directing the story only to Diana, who being blind, has the ability to "spot her". One girl can be seen running away in panic from the area where the corpse is found, but it is unclear if she just found the body, or assisted Maria.

Cast

The main cast of the movie created Facebook profiles for their respective characters where they explain some aspects of their characters that weren't explored in the movie.

Original Stage Play

Previously, around 2008, there was a stage play of Perras written by Guillermo Ríos with the following cast:
The movie has received mixed to bad critics. On IMDb has received an average rating of 5.3, with similar ratings on other rating movie databases such as Letterboxd and TMDB. The critics questioned mostly the participation of adult women as the main characters, playing as secondary school girls, instead of casting true teenage actress, and the frequent and unnecessary allusions to old Mexican soap operas and some connotations not according to the age the main characters supposedly have. At some point in the movie the girls mention their favorite singer is an old ballad Mexican singer, instead of any pop star of their age, and their favorite TV shows are the kind middle age or senior adults watch, as if the screenwriter had no clue of the likes of an actual teenager. The girls also seem to be very familiar with real life events that happened 20–30 years ago, before they even were born. The presence of an adult version of Frida talking about her past may indicate the complete story is actually a memory, which may explain those time issues, but the furniture, cars, clothes and other media present in the movie indicates it is happening in actual times. The movie has also been criticized for being written from a misogynous perspective, which frequently remarks "that all girls just want to do it", and it is not easy to say what the real subject of the movie is, since there are so many: the discovery of sexuality, discrimination, chance, drugs, maternity, traditions, betrayals, power, love. A mural of a complex reality from the point of view of twenty-something women in the skin of 14 to 17 year old girls.

Homevideo Releases

The DVD and Blu-ray were released in late 2011, and received similar critics as the movie.