Manuel Betancourt November 1901. Mexico City. A police raid on a high-society private party leads to the arrest of 42 men. Nineteen are found wearing lavish ball gowns that matched the opulence of the (very much illicit) affair.
Among those arrested are key figures from Mexico’s ruling class, including one whose name and presence at the party is promptly erased from the record.
David Pablos’ handsome period film “Dance of the 41” traces the real-life story of that man: Ignacio de la Torre (Alfonso Herrera, “Sense8”), the then-son-in-law of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz.Monika Revilla’s screenplay doesn’t begin with the political scandal that gives the film its title.