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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2023
Cast
Sor Juana, played by Assumpta Serna; voice dubbed by Cecilia Roth
The Vicereine, played by Dominique Sanda
The Viceroy, played by Héctor Alterio
Archbishop, played by Lauturo Murúa
Sor Úrsula, elected abbess, played by Graciela Araujo
Bishop Santa Cruz, played by Alberto Segado
Miranda, sor Juana’s confessor, played by Franklin Caicedo
Crew
Screenplay: María Luisa Bemberg, Antonio Larreta
Director’s assistant: Marcello Rembado
Production Managers: Marta Paga, Miriam Bendjuia
Camera: Jorge Guillerno Behnisch
Setting: Esmeralda Almonacid
Wardrobe: Graciela Galán
Sound: Jorge Stavropulos
Music: Luis María Serra
Editing: Juan Carlos Macías
Design: Voytek
Photography Director: Félix Monti
Executive Producer: Gilbert Marouani
Producer: Lita Stantic
Director: María Luisa Bemberg
Plot
The film opens with a conversation between the Viceroy and the Archbishop of Mexico in which the rivalry between them is obvious. Cuts to convent in which the nuns are standing in the courtyard and then to sor Juana’s cell in which she is busy writing. News arrives that the Viceroy will be visiting the convent and wishes to meet sor Juana. The Viceroy and his wife come to the convent, see sor Juana’s latest play and decide to ‘adopt’ her. The Archbishop meets sor Úrsula and arranges for her to be the new abbess, encouraging her to crack down on discipline. The Vicereine comes to meet sor Juana and says they are more similar than is first apparent; the beginning of a deep friendship. During a conversation between sor Juana and Sigüenza about literary matters, the Vicereine brings sor Juana a beautiful Quetazalcoatl feather. The Vicereine protects sor Juana from Úrsula’s influence, and the Viceroy reverses the Archbishop’s order to have sor Juana banned from her library because of the licentious nature of her verse. TheVicereine asks sor Juana to take off her unveil and she kisses her. The Viceroys are recalled to Madrid, and Bishop Santa Cruz encourages sor Juana to write against the Archbishop’s favourite theologian, the Portuguese Jesuit, Antônio Vieyra. He promises not to publish it, but when she leaves, he goes back on his word, publishing the essay, the Carta atenagórica, and including in the edition a preface rebuking sor Juana for her interest in mundane matters under the pseudonym, sor Filotea de la Cruz. The Archbishop is furious at sor Juana’s rebuttal of Jesuit theology, and demands an explanation.
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