Such Is Life

Synopsis
Arturo Ripstein's contemporary adaptation of the Greek tragedy MEDEA is the first commercially released film from Latin America to be shot on Digital Video. Ripstein's camera roves impatiently through a dark and surreal landscape of dingy corridors and tiny apartments occupied by the self-absorbed characters of this atmospheric drama. An abortionist named Julia (Arcelia Ramirez) spends most of her time in her clausterphobic apartment with her young children. Her husband, Nicolas (Luis Felipe Tovar), abandoned her for a younger woman, Raquel (Francesca Guillen)--the daughter of the powerful and vile slumlord known as Pig (Ernesto Yanez). While Julia plots her revenge on her husband, Nicolas divides his time between the gym, where he trains as a professional boxer, and his girlfriend's apartment, where he lies in bed and thinks about his upcoming wedding to her. As Julia becomes more embittered, Nicolas decides he needs to take his children away from her, but not without catastrophic consequences.