Rating: 
Summary: Hombres necios que anunciáis a la mejor sinrazón...
Review: Don't be fooled by the cheap publicity on the cover: this is not a movie about lesbian nuns, but the true story of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, one of Spanish literature's greatest poets of all time, and perhaps the first feminist of the Western Hemisphere, circa 1685.Assumpta Serna shines as the fierce, beautiful (the resemblance is striking) and brilliant Sor Juana, the Mexican wondergirl who took the vows hoping to get an education, astonished her friends, foes and times, and was later ordered to silence by the Church for the sole sin of being an intelligent woman. Based upon the book by Nobel laureate Octavio Paz, I, THE WORST OF ALL is a precious little Argentine film, with the look of a Vermeer and the passionate heart of its heroine. You will certainly enjoy it more if fluent in Spanish (since Sor Juana's poetry is like written Mozart), but if not, see it anyway. I'm sure you'll thank me. P.S. You can get the works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz here on Amazon books. You don't know what you've been missing!
Rating:
Summary: Hombres necios que anunciáis a la mejor sinrazón...
Review: Don't be fooled by the cheap publicity on the cover: this is not a movie about lesbian nuns, but the true story of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, one of Spanish literature's greatest poets of all time, and perhaps the first feminist of the Western Hemisphere, circa 1685. Assumpta Serna shines as the fierce, beautiful (the resemblance is striking) and brilliant Sor Juana, the Mexican wondergirl who took the vows hoping to get an education, astonished her friends, foes and times, and was later ordered to silence by the Church for the sole sin of being an intelligent woman. Based upon the book by Nobel laureate Octavio Paz, I, THE WORST OF ALL is a precious little Argentine film, with the look of a Vermeer and the passionate heart of its heroine. You will certainly enjoy it more if fluent in Spanish (since Sor Juana's poetry is like written Mozart), but if not, see it anyway. I'm sure you'll thank me. P.S. You can get the works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz here on Amazon books. You don't know what you've been missing!
Rating:
Summary: The Best of All
Review: I first learned about Sor Juana while studying Spanish literature in Guadalajara, Mexico, and I fell in love with her poems. Recently, I became aware that there is a video about her life and I ordered it. I received it last week and since then I have watched it four times. I cannot add anything that hasn't already been said about how great the video is. For the ones that object about how it's packaged, I say, you'll quickly forget about it the moment the movie starts. Every frame is precious.
Rating:
Summary: bad marketing
Review: I have to add to the previous comments. This is an excellent film that describes a woman's struggle to live a full human life in a time when women are not supposed to think, discover or invent anything. The movie has nothing to do with lesbianism but with intellectual isolation in a male society. There is no sex but a kiss. I think it is quite narrow minded to expect all the cultures of the world to follow puritanism. In the other hand, this is not the first foreign movie that gets misleading advertising. If you get Babbete's Feast, you should skip the writing in the back as well. It is stupid. Oh, and yes, this is not a spanish film but argentinian, by one of the best argentinian directors today. An earlier excellent movie she directed is called "Camila". Also controversial, and not sex oriented as some people would always think. btw, what anglo americans call "spanish" language is really castillian. One of the maybe four different languages spoken in Spain is castillian, and castillian is what most countries speak in Latin America. But I think this bit of ignorance has taken over so far in pop culture that it would be hard to correct now.
Rating:
Summary: Lush, Sad . . . Wonderful
Review: If ever there was a movie to see--this is definitely it. If you can get over your initial disgust at the pornographic misrepresentation, which is an insult to the woman whose life inspired this film, you will blissfuly experience the brilliance that is the beauty of Sor Juana. This movie is without doubt the most moving and accurate portrayal I have ever seen in biographical films to date. The end was so moving (we--the Spanish class) were literally sobbing. "Su sangre fue nuestros sangre". As delicate as a Raphaelite painting and as bold as a Rodan sculpture, this depiction will leave you breathless at the fiery soul who was "The Tenth Muse of Mexico".
Rating: 
Summary: this, the worst of jokes
Review: Maybe this film is as good as other reviewers say. I don't know. What I do know is that I purchased it, hoping to give it to my wife for Christmas. She teaches Spanish, and I thought that perhaps she would enjoy showing it to her students. When it arrived, and I saw the book advertising "lesbian passion seething behind convent walls," I was crushed. So what if that's not what the film depicts? It's a hell of a thing to unwrap on Christmas morning. "It's not as bad as that, honey." No, thank you. The creator of this stupid advertisement undoubtedly thought that the image of nuns frolicking in the garden of eros would titillate the masses and result in a stampede of buyers. Such advertising is, and should be, offensive not only to Catholics, but to people in general. I sent it back, unopened and unviewed.
Rating:
Summary: STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL FILM-MAKING
Review: One of my best friends saw that I was reading a novel about Sor Juana, SOR JUANA'S SECOND DREAM, by Alicia Gaspar de Alba, and recommended this film to me -- with the admonishment to ignore the tawdry blurb on the cover: "Lesbian passions seething behind convent walls", indeed! How ridiculous -- it would be like describing FORREST GUMP as "partying with coeds in a dorm room after hours". It's a cheap attempt to draw the wrong conclusions about this moving story. Don't let it put you off. This film about the amazing woman who has been called Mexico's 'Tenth muse' -- a reference to the title Plato bestowed on Sappho -- is a beautiful piece of film-making. Even considering the scenes that were meant to be outdoors, that were obviously shot on a sound stage, this is a lovely experience. The direction is superb, the acting amazingly sensitive -- I was enthralled, and I usually don't enjoy films with subtitles. Sor Juana was an amazing woman -- intellectual, creative, always pushing her own boundaries, and brave. For a woman in her era (seventeenth century Mexico) to profess that women had just as much right to an education, to learning, as men, set her against some powerful forces -- mainly the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Her courage and determination in the face of such opposition is inspiring -- it's easy to see why she's seen as a hero by so many.
Rating: 
Summary: Tremendous Film - It's about time!
Review: The "Tenth Muse" has finally been portrayed accurately. I've studyed the writings of Sor Juana for nearly a decade and continue to be impressed by her artistry. This film captures much of what I appreciate about her and her writing. It shows Sor Juana as a strong woman who is truly a master of her art and a master of herself. That may seem an odd thing to say, but being a master of oneself in the cloister of the 17th century convent is a feat worthy of mention. For years there has been speculation that Sor Juana was, at the least, a sapphic poet, and probably a lesbian. Lets set the record straight. There is no direct evidence that Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a lesbian. Did she write love poems to the Marquesa de Mancera? Yes. Does that make her a lesbian? No. She was simply writing poems to, and for, a friend in a commonly accepted style. Other contemporary male poets also wrote love poems to the Marquesa. Does that mean they were in love with her. Not at all. It was a common practice and was done as a sign of devotion, of friendship, and often as an attempt to earn a pension from the noble family. Having now said that, is it possible that she was a lesbian? Of course it's possible. Does it matter? No! Sor Juana is one of the finest scholars and poets of the Americas. That's what's important.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous Film - It's about time!
Review: The "Tenth Muse" has finally been portrayed accurately. I've studyed the writings of Sor Juana for nearly a decade and continue to be impressed by her artistry. This film captures much of what I appreciate about her and her writing. It shows Sor Juana as a strong woman who is truly a master of her art and a master of herself. That may seem an odd thing to say, but being a master of oneself in the cloister of the 17th century convent is a feat worthy of mention. For years there has been speculation that Sor Juana was, at the least, a sapphic poet, and probably a lesbian. Lets set the record straight. There is no direct evidence that Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a lesbian. Did she write love poems to the Marquesa de Mancera? Yes. Does that make her a lesbian? No. She was simply writing poems to, and for, a friend in a commonly accepted style. Other contemporary male poets also wrote love poems to the Marquesa. Does that mean they were in love with her. Not at all. It was a common practice and was done as a sign of devotion, of friendship, and often as an attempt to earn a pension from the noble family. Having now said that, is it possible that she was a lesbian? Of course it's possible. Does it matter? No! Sor Juana is one of the finest scholars and poets of the Americas. That's what's important.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous Film - It's about time!
Review: The "Tenth Muse" has finally been portrayed accurately. I've studyed the writings of Sor Juana for nearly a decade and continue to be impressed by her artistry. This film captures much of what I appreciate about her and her writing. It shows Sor Juana as a strong woman who is truly a master of her art and a master of herself. That may seem an odd thing to say, but being a master of oneself in the cloister of the 17th century convent is a feat worthy of mention. For years there has been speculation that Sor Juana was, at the least, a sapphic poet, and probably a lesbian. Lets set the record straight. There is no direct evidence that Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a lesbian. Did she write love poems to the Marquesa de Mancera? Yes. Does that make her a lesbian? No. She was simply writing poems to, and for, a friend in a commonly accepted style. Other contemporary male poets also wrote love poems to the Marquesa. Does that mean they were in love with her. Not at all. It was a common practice and was done as a sign of devotion, of friendship, and often as an attempt to earn a pension from the noble family. Having now said that, is it possible that she was a lesbian? Of course it's possible. Does it matter? No! Sor Juana is one of the finest scholars and poets of the Americas. That's what's important.
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