ABSTRACT
The Mexican film entitled El secreto de Romelia (Romelia’s Secret) plots a story of love and revenge, of rivalry between men over specific sexual favours from women. It is a familiar tale. The story gains its particular twist by hinging the drama on the relationship between a dead man (Rafael) and his brother-in-law (Carlos) and an unusual enactment of vengeance. The deceased man’s sister, the lovely Romelia, is accused of not being a virgin on the night of her wedding. What prompts this accusation forms the subtext of the film; the succession of events can only be meaningfully grasped in terms of a moral code which is based on the notions of honour and shame. The film starts with Carlos marrying Elena and her subsequent rejection of him on their wedding night. Soon thereafter Carlos receives a bundle of love letters that Elena has written to another; to the man she loves and to whom she has succumbed. Elena dies of grief. Carlos discovers that her lover was Rafael. Rafael, however, has taken his life upon learning that Elena is dead. Carlos seeks to avenge himself on Rafael by marrying his younger sister, Romelia. The day after their wedding night he sends Romelia back to her family, claiming that she was not a virgin. She was, but no one would believe her. Her sisters’ bad reputations sullied hers as well. Romelia became pregnant on her wedding night. She left the village and gave birth to a daughter and did not return until the funeral of Carlos (and the settlement of the estate).1
