Promise Prohibited

A large part of the Valley of Mexico is made up of a kind of transitional zone, both urban and rural at once. Beautiful, flourishing crops contrast with tightly packed slum dwellings. This is a hybrid landscape that cannot or will not be defined. The same applies to the people who live here. Their identity is neither here nor there, which also makes it difficult for them to relate to one another. The unnamed, female protagonist of Promise Prohibited is involved in relationships with two men, one young and one older. She meets them, separately, at a tree on a hill, giving this place a strong symbolic value. A painted portrait of her and the older man hangs above her bed. This all might suggest a complicated love triangle, but the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear. Like in a slow-moving photonovel, the characters rub past one another, often separated by a split screen. Life and landscape slowly merge into a resigned acceptance of irrationality.