# Enamorada
**Enamorada** (Spanish for "A Woman in Love") is a 1946 Mexican black-and-white romantic drama directed by Emilio "El Indio" Fernández, starring [María Félix](https://www.edgepedia.org/maria-felix) as the aristocrat Beatriz Peñafiel and [Pedro Armendáriz](https://www.edgepedia.org/pedro-armendariz) as the revolutionary General José Juan Reyes, with cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa. Set during the [Mexican Revolution](https://www.edgepedia.org/mexican-revolution) in the city of Cholula, Puebla, it is apparently inspired by Shakespeare's *The Taming of the Shrew* and is regarded as one of the most relevant films in the history of Mexican cinema.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a5e6101b-0a61-5bab-8750-72a78e802c70/enamorada) • [2](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/enamorada-02-16-19/) • [3](https://www.cinetecanacional.net/detallePelicula.php?FilmId=HO00001455)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / year | Emilio Fernández, Mexico, 1946; produced by Benito Alazraki for Panamerican Films[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a5e6101b-0a61-5bab-8750-72a78e802c70/enamorada) |
| Runtime | 99 minutes (some catalogs list 96 or 104 minutes)[4](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/enamorada/) • [5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) |
| Principal cast | María Félix (Beatriz Peñafiel), Pedro Armendáriz (General José Juan Reyes), Fernando Fernández (Padre Rafael Sierra)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a5e6101b-0a61-5bab-8750-72a78e802c70/enamorada) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Gabriel Figueroa; screenplay Iñigo de Martino, Benito Alazraki, Emilio Fernández; editing Gloria Schoemann; music Eduardo Hernández Moncada[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a5e6101b-0a61-5bab-8750-72a78e802c70/enamorada) |
| Premiere | Cine Alameda, Mexico City, 25 December 1946[5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) |
| Awards | Ariel Awards 1947 for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Photography, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Supporting Actor; International Photography Prize at the 1947 Brussels Festival[5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) |
| Restoration | 4K restoration (2018) by UCLA Film & Television Archive and the World Cinema Project from the original 35mm nitrate negatives[6](https://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema?page=2&sortBy=title&sortOrder=1) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and literary sources
The story is set during the Mexican Revolution. Revolutionary troops under General José Juan Reyes take the conservative city of Cholula, confiscating the property of the town's wealthy families to finance the army. Among those affected is Carlos Peñafiel, one of the richest men in the region, whose daughter Beatriz resists the confiscations and despises the zapatistas occupying her town. Reyes falls in love with her; she rejects and humiliates him repeatedly, and the film follows his courtship until she is won over and leaves with him as he leads his troops out of town.[3](https://www.cinetecanacional.net/detallePelicula.php?FilmId=HO00001455) • [7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/enamorada-2/)
The screenplay by Iñigo de Martino, Benito Alazraki, and Fernández is apparently inspired, without on-screen credit, by Shakespeare's *The Taming of the Shrew* and by a fragment of *El Conde Lucanor* by Don Juan Manuel.[5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) The finale borrows from the ending of [Josef von Sternberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/josef-von-sternberg)'s *Morocco* (1930).[4](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/enamorada/) The courtship is physical and combative: Beatriz slaps Reyes after he whistles at her and later blows him off his horse with a bomb, and the general's "taming" consists of getting down on his knees and asking forgiveness for the atrocities he has committed.[2](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/enamorada-02-16-19/)
The third central character is Padre Rafael Sierra, played by Fernando Fernández, the director's brother, a priest who is both Reyes's childhood friend and Beatriz's confidant and who urges the two headstrong characters toward humility. The church scenes, exploiting the architecture and light of Cholula's colonial buildings, are among the film's most celebrated images.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/too%20much%3Cbr%3Emelodrama%20on%20film/2025/10/21/enamorada/)
## Production and style
Fernández made the film as a follow-up to his successful *María Candelaria* (1944), with the same core team of Figueroa as cinematographer and Armendáriz as lead. Fernández was a veteran of the Revolution, and officials regarded the film as significant for shaping Mexico's national identity after the revolution; working together over the course of the 1940s, Fernández and Figueroa are recognized as having been central to making Mexican cinema internationally renowned.[4](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/enamorada/) • [8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/too%20much%3Cbr%3Emelodrama%20on%20film/2025/10/21/enamorada/)
Figueroa's pictorial black-and-white photography is the film's defining visual element. For most of the film the dominant visual motif is the church of Cholula, an example of Spanish colonial architecture, and the film's formal beauty has been noted as sometimes standing apart from the plot itself.[9](https://filozofia.uni-miskolc.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GaltRosalind-ShoonoverKarleds2010-GlobalArtCinema.NewTheoriesAndHistories.pdf) • [10](https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/Cinema-Ritrovato-2007-catalogo-pdf.pdf) The film was shot on location in Cholula, Puebla, including the temple of San Francisco Acatepec.[11](https://unamglobal.unam.mx/global_revista/la-pelicula-enamorada-restaurada-digitalmente-por-la-filmoteca-de-la-unam-sera-presentada-en-el-festival-de-cannes/) • [12](https://elpais.com/smoda/placeres/2025-09-18/dona-maria-felix-la-actriz-mas-bella-entre-las-bellas.html)
*Enamorada* was the first collaboration between Fernández and María Félix, who many consider Mexican cinema's greatest star; the pair worked together on several films afterward.[13](https://cultura.cervantes.es/espanya/es/enamorada/110313) • [7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/enamorada-2/)
## Reception and awards
The film premiered at the Cine Alameda in Mexico City on 25 December 1946 and became one of the biggest hits of Fernández's career.[5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) • [4](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/enamorada/) At the 1947 Ariel Awards of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences it won Best Film, Best Actress (María Félix), Best Supporting Actor (Eduardo Arozamena), Best Photography (Figueroa), Best Editing (Gloria Schoemann), and Best Sound (José B. Carles), and it took the International Photography Prize at the 1947 Brussels Festival.[5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) The Filmoteca UNAM records a nomination for the Gran Premio Internacional at the 1947 [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival).[14](https://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/ciclos_en_linea/ciclo-la-revolucion-mexicana-a-traves-del-cine/enamorada-sinopsis/)
Its Cannes record is stated differently by different sources. Cineteca Nacional describes a nomination for the Palma d'Or and a Best Photography prize for Figueroa at the Festival de Cannes,[3](https://www.cinetecanacional.net/detallePelicula.php?FilmId=HO00001455) while the Instituto Cervantes states that the film won the Palma d'Or at Cannes in 1947.[13](https://cultura.cervantes.es/espanya/es/enamorada/110313)
Fernández remade the film in English as *The Torch* (*Del odio nació el amor*), with [Paulette Goddard](https://www.edgepedia.org/paulette-goddard) replacing Félix, Armendáriz repeating his role, and Figueroa again photographing; the Diccionario de Directores del Cine Mexicano dates it 1949, while other commentary dates it 1950, and it is generally judged the lesser version.[5](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/) • [15](https://sightlines.media/film/115301/enamorada-1946)
## Restoration
The film's survival depends on a single nitrate print, held by the Filmoteca UNAM in a specialized vault and kept in good condition by its preservation technicians. A 4K restoration was carried out by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and [The Film Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-film-foundation)'s World Cinema Project in collaboration with Fundación Televisa AC and the Filmoteca UNAM, funded by the Material World Charitable Foundation, using the original 35mm nitrate picture and track negatives stored by Televisa at the Filmoteca de la UNAM in Mexico City, with a nitrate print as a secondary element; scanning was completed by Roundabout Entertainment and audio restoration by Audio Mechanics.[14](https://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/ciclos_en_linea/ciclo-la-revolucion-mexicana-a-traves-del-cine/enamorada-sinopsis/) • [6](https://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema?page=2&sortBy=title&sortOrder=1)
The restored film was presented at the 71st Festival de Cannes in 2018 in a special screening introduced by Martin Scorsese, and it also screened at the 56th [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival) that year.[11](https://unamglobal.unam.mx/global_revista/la-pelicula-enamorada-restaurada-digitalmente-por-la-filmoteca-de-la-unam-sera-presentada-en-el-festival-de-cannes/) • [4](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/enamorada/) The nitrate print itself had been shown at the Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman House in 2016, where the silver emulsion on the cellulose nitrate base was praised for the brightness it gave to the gray scale of Figueroa's photography.[14](https://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/ciclos_en_linea/ciclo-la-revolucion-mexicana-a-traves-del-cine/enamorada-sinopsis/)
## Legacy
*Enamorada* is frequently cited among the most important films of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and a documentary on Mexican cinema records that for many specialists it is Fernández's best film.[14](https://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/ciclos_en_linea/ciclo-la-revolucion-mexicana-a-traves-del-cine/enamorada-sinopsis/) • [16](https://cid-albertobeltran.cultura.gob.mx/videoteca/enamorada-realizacion-alejandro-pelayo-rangel-et-al/) Later scholarship has moved the film from national monument to contested text, focusing on the resistance of the María Félix persona to the film's own plot and on the ideological work performed by its ending, and the restoration has given it a second international life.[15](https://sightlines.media/film/115301/enamorada-1946) The Fernández–Figueroa image remains a reference for Mexican cinematographers, with later filmmakers such as [Emmanuel Lubezki](https://www.edgepedia.org/emmanuel-lubezki) and [Alfonso Cuarón](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfonso-cuaron) acknowledging the [Golden Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-age) visual tradition.[15](https://sightlines.media/film/115301/enamorada-1946)
## References
1. [Enamorada (1946), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a5e6101b-0a61-5bab-8750-72a78e802c70/enamorada)
2. [Enamorada, UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/enamorada-02-16-19/)
3. [Enamorada, Cineteca Nacional](https://www.cinetecanacional.net/detallePelicula.php?FilmId=HO00001455)
4. [Enamorada, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/enamorada/)
5. [Película: Enamorada (Emilio Fernández, 1946), Diccionario de Directores del Cine Mexicano](https://diccionariodedirectoresdelcinemexicano.com/antologia-peliculas/pelicula-enamorada-emilio-fernandez-1946/)
6. [World Cinema Project, The Film Foundation](https://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema?page=2&sortBy=title&sortOrder=1)
7. [Enamorada, Festival de Cannes (Cannes Classics 2018)](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/enamorada-2/)
8. [Enamorada, BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/too%20much%3Cbr%3Emelodrama%20on%20film/2025/10/21/enamorada/)
9. [Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories (Galt & Schoonover, eds., 2010)](https://filozofia.uni-miskolc.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GaltRosalind-ShoonoverKarleds2010-GlobalArtCinema.NewTheoriesAndHistories.pdf)
10. [Cinema Ritrovato 2007 catalog](https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/Cinema-Ritrovato-2007-catalogo-pdf.pdf)
11. [Enamorada, película restaurada por la UNAM para el Festival de Cannes, UNAM Global](https://unamglobal.unam.mx/global_revista/la-pelicula-enamorada-restaurada-digitalmente-por-la-filmoteca-de-la-unam-sera-presentada-en-el-festival-de-cannes/)
12. [Doña María Félix, la actriz más bella entre las bellas, S Moda (El País)](https://elpais.com/smoda/placeres/2025-09-18/dona-maria-felix-la-actriz-mas-bella-entre-las-bellas.html)
13. [Enamorada, Instituto Cervantes](https://cultura.cervantes.es/espanya/es/enamorada/110313)
14. [Enamorada – sinopsis, Filmoteca UNAM](https://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/ciclos_en_linea/ciclo-la-revolucion-mexicana-a-traves-del-cine/enamorada-sinopsis/)
15. [Enamorada (1946): analysis, influences and similar films, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/115301/enamorada-1946)
16. [Enamorada, Centro de Información y Documentación (CID)](https://cid-albertobeltran.cultura.gob.mx/videoteca/enamorada-realizacion-alejandro-pelayo-rangel-et-al/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1940s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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