The Perez Family (Spanish: La familia Pérez) is a 1949 Mexican comedy drama film directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares and starring Joaquín Pardavé, Sara García and Manuel Fábregas. This film could have been inspired by Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice.
Contents
Plot
Set in Mexico City during the 1940s, Gumaro Pérez (Joaquín Pardavé) is a mild-mannered, lower-middle-class office worker who faces relentless financial strain due to his demanding household. His overbearing, social-climbing wife, Doña Natalia Vivanco de Pérez (Sara García), is completely obsessed with money and superficial high-society standing. Despite living in a modest apartment building, Natalia aggressively demands material luxuries and falsely boasts to her neighbors that she is of noble aristocratic descent, operating under the self-proclaimed title of the "Marchesa of Salvatierra."
Treating Gumaro with complete disrespect and viewing him strictly as a financial provider, Natalia focuses on arranging a highly lucrative marriage for their daughter with Luis Robles del Valle (Manolo Fábregas), a wealthy and handsome young bachelor, in an attempt to pull the family out of poverty. To appease his wife's escalating whims and secure an expensive loan, the increasingly desperate Gumaro attempts to borrow money at his workplace. However, the plan instantly backfires when his mocking co-workers intercept the cash to settle the extensive personal debts Gumaro already owes across the office.
Deeply humiliated, broken by the crushing debt, and unable to face his family's materialistic demands, Gumaro leaves his home entirely. Out on the streets, his trajectory spirals downward until he hits rock bottom, living as a destitute beggar in the city while his family must cope without their primary financial provider. Reflecting on his past weakness, Gumaro undergoes a profound transformation and realizes that his submissive nature has enabled his family's moral decay. Reinvigorated with newfound courage, he decides to return home, finally stand up to Natalia, and force his family to abandon their superficial deceptions to embrace humility, love, and genuine togetherness.
Cast
Joaquín Pardavé - Gumaro Pérez
Sara García - Natalia Vivanco de Pérez
Manuel Fábregas - Luis Robles del Valle
Beatriz Aguirre - Clara
José Elías Moreno - Toribio Sánchez
Alma Rosa Aguirre - Patricia
Lilia Prado - Rosa
Felipe de Alba - Roberto Martínez
Conchita Carracedo - Margarita
José Baviera- Don Ricardo
Ana María Villaseñor - Irene
Óscar Pulido - Raymundo
Celia Duarte - Petra
Isaac Norton - Ramón
Eduardo Noriega - Felipe Barrera y Arévalo
José Ángel Espinosa 'Ferrusquilla' - Narrator
Jorge Fábregas - (uncredited)
Gloria Lozano - Empleada en oficina (uncredited)
Paco Martínez - Invitado a boda (uncredited)
Carlos Múzquiz - Rodríguez (uncredited)
Manuel Trejo - (uncredited)
Hernán Vera - Movedor (uncredited)