The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales

Pablo Morales is a taxidermist; he mounts animals and sells them to museums and collectors. He has been married to Gloria for twenty years. She is devout, unwell and complains constantly; she finds his work disgusting, drives his friends from the house and complains about him to the priests. Pablo endures it. One day he decides not to. He kills her. Then he uses his trade: he turns what is left into a skeleton and hangs it among the other specimens in his workshop. Nobody notices. Then the neighbours start asking after her. Rogelio A. González directs. Arturo de Córdova plays Pablo and Amparo Rivelles plays Gloria. It is a Mexican production. The source is a story by Arthur Machen; it was moved to Mexico and set into the social order of the period. Its form is black humour; the killing is shown not as a tragedy but as a relief, and the narrative pulls the audience to the killer's side. The narrative takes direct aim at the period's ideas of religion and marriage and had trouble with the censor for it. The taxidermy scenes are detailed and the trade itself is the narrative's material. Arturo de Córdova's performance is calm and never turns the character into a monster. The film is counted among the classics of Mexican cinema. Its limit is viewpoint; the wife is drawn as one dimensional and the narrative sets no balance against it. Who it is for: viewers who like Mexican cinema and black humour. Who it is not for: the subject is uncomfortable, the depiction of the wife problematic, and the register cold.