2000: Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch), Iñárritu and Bernal’s breakthrough film
25 years ago, their trailblazing Mexican film made waves at Cannes. Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch) propelled both Alejandro González Iñárritu and Gael García Bernal to the world stage. This year, the duo are back to celebrate their special anniversary at Cannes Classics.
“I was young and very nervous,” remembers Alejandro González Iñárritu.
That morning in May 2000, the then-36-year-old Mexican filmmaker unveiled his debut film on the big screen during Semaine de la Critique: three intertwined narratives, each involving a man and a dog, set in an urban, chaotic, and vibrant Mexico — part thriller, part melodrama. Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch) was met with global acclaim and took home the Semaine de la Critique Grand Prix.
In it, Iñárritu portrays a Mexico that defies the stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood cinema. Violence and chaos are at the epicenter of the film, where stark realism coexists with the raw emotion and tense beauty of its capital city. The powerfully symbolic direction is inspired by both Catholic culture and the legacy of Mexican mural paintings.
It constitutes a debut film, an already established signature style… and a breakout role for actor Gael García Bernal, who was just 21 when he went to Cannes to promote the film.
“There were seven of us living in a tiny apartment. It was so much fun!” he recalls.
“There were posters for other films everywhere, and I kept thinking that ours would get lost in the crowd, that no one would notice it!”
The two artists have since etched their names in history. The following year, Bernal made a name for himself thanks to roles in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También, Almodóvar’s La Mala Educación (Bad Education), and Michel Gondry’s La Science des rêves (The Science of Sleep). This year, he returns to Cannes in the lead role in Lav Diaz’ Magalhães (Magellan), presented at Cannes Première.
For Iñárritu, it was the first installment of what he would later refer to as his “Death Trilogy”: Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch), 21 Grams (2003), then Babel, in Competition in 2006. Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and Gael García Bernal, Babel won the Award for Best Director — 10 years before the release of The Revenant, where Iñárritu would go on to win the Oscar for Best Director.