General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Perdita Durango (1997 film)

Perdita Durango is a 1997 action-crime film directed by Álex de la Iglesia, adapted from Barry Gifford's novel 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango and starring Rosie Perez as Perdita Durango and Javier Bardem as Romeo Dolorosa, an amoral outlaw couple who kidnap two teenagers and transport a shipment of fetuses from the Mexican border to Las Vegas.¹^•² It was a co-production of Spain, the United States, and Mexico, and at the time of its release it was described by Filmoteca Española as the most expensive film in the history of Spanish cinema.¹^•³ In the United States it was released under the title Dance with the Devil.⁴

Key fact	Detail
Director and source	Álex de la Iglesia; based on Barry Gifford's novel 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango¹
Countries	Spain (50%), United States (30%), Mexico (20%)¹
Lead cast	Rosie Perez (Perdita Durango), Javier Bardem (Romeo Dolorosa), Harley Cross (Duane), Aimee Graham (Estelle), James Gandolfini (Willie "Woody" Dumas)²
Spanish release	31 October 1997; rated not suitable for viewers under 18¹
Spanish box office	€2,573,665.73 from 779,840 spectators¹
Goya Awards	2 wins from 4 nominations: best production direction and best makeup and hairstyling⁵
Critical aggregate	43% Tomatometer (14 reviews), 63% Popcornmeter (2,500+ ratings) on Rotten Tomatoes²

Spoilers

Plot and characters

Perdita Durango is an unscrupulous woman who, in the company of the attractive murderer Romeo Dolorosa, agrees to transport a cargo of fetuses from the Mexican border to Las Vegas for a mafia boss. Along the way the couple kidnaps two teenagers from well-to-do families, and the journey brings them into contact with double agents, police, journalists, santeros, murderers, drug traffickers, prostitutes, and desperate parents.¹ The San Sebastián Festival synopsis describes the story as the wild tale of love and death between Perdita, a woman determined to live to the fullest, and Romeo, a tough and magnetic man.⁶

The couple practices a cult religion as part of the story; Rotten Tomatoes' synopsis describes them as an amoral pair who practice voodoo and commit a series of violent crimes on their way to Las Vegas.² Empire's review describes Perdita and Romeo crossing the Mexican border pursued by the mob and a hapless FBI agent, Dumas (James Gandolfini), while the kidnapped couple endures abuse and increasingly erratic behavior from the pair as the film races toward a cataclysmic finale.⁷

Origins of the character

The title character did not begin with this film. Perdita Durango first appeared in Barry Gifford's fiction, and the American Film Institute notes that she made her first screen appearance in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), where she was played by Isabella Rossellini.⁴ The Spanish film database entry for the movie likewise records the source as Gifford's book 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango, with the screenplay credited to Gifford, Jorge Guerricaechevarría, David Trueba, and Álex de la Iglesia.⁸ Kino Lorber's release notes describe the film as a prequel to Wild at Heart featuring the sociopath priestess Perdita Durango.⁹

Production

The film was produced by Andrés Vicente Gómez through Lolafilms, with Sogetel and the Mexican company Mirador Films as co-producers; the ICAA catalog also lists Occidental Media Inc. among the production companies.²^•⁸ Flavio Martínez Labiano was the director of photography, Simon Boswell and Terry Davies composed the music, and Teresa Font edited.⁸ The Catalan film agency's catalog lists the genre as a drama road movie, shot in color with Dolby SR Digital sound, with versions in English with Spanish subtitles and in Spanish.¹⁰

The shoot was eventful. The film magazine Fancine reported that an explosion during production injured more than ten people, among them Bardem, and that the film suffered repeated delays attributed to the lead actress's behavior.¹¹

De la Iglesia himself resisted reading the film as a comedy. In a note accompanying a Filmoteca Española screening he said: "I have not added a veneer of humor to soften things, but quite the opposite: humor in dramatic moments makes things more pathetic. Perdita Durango is not a comedy."³

Release and reception

Perdita Durango screened at the 45th San Sebastián Festival in September 1997, listed with a running time of 128 minutes, before its Spanish commercial release on 31 October 1997.⁶^•¹ The recorded running times differ across catalogs: the ICAA theatrical classification lists 97 minutes, the San Sebastián listing 128 minutes, the Catalan catalog 126 minutes, and Rotten Tomatoes 2 hours 6 minutes, reflecting different cuts and measurement practices for the Spanish and international versions.¹^•⁶^•¹⁰^•² A Mexican critic writing in La Jornada noted that Spain was the only country where the film could be seen uncut, and that the "international" version shown in Mexico had santería ritual scenes removed by American distributors.¹²

In Spain the film earned €2,573,665.73 from 779,840 spectators, and El País ranked it fifth among the highest-grossing Spanish films of 1997, after Airbag, Carne trémula, El amor perjudica seriamente la salud, and Secretos del corazón.¹^•¹³ At the 12th Goya Awards it received four nominations and won two prizes: best production direction for José Luis Escolar and best makeup and hairstyling for José Quetglás and Mercedes Guillot.⁵

Critical response was divided. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 43% on the Tomatometer from 14 reviews and 63% on the audience Popcornmeter.² Reviewers singled out the lead performances: the Horror Queers Podcast called the film "a perfect vehicle" for Perez and Bardem delivering career-best work, while Joe Lipsett wrote that the film is at its best when focused on Perez, who "completely owns this movie."² Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews rated it B and called the two leads "one of the great cinematic criminal couples."² A Variety review quoted by Filmaffinity found that the film's mix of sex, violence, and voodoo rituals was not fast or funny enough to fully satisfy.¹⁴

Place in de la Iglesia's career

The film followed de la Iglesia's Acción mutante (1993) and El día de la bestia (1995), and critics read it as the director taking his style of black humor and excess to an American setting. A Spanish review in El País called it a breathless mix of action and comedy, weaker than his previous work but bearing his unmistakable stamp, with Bardem's performance the best thing in the film.¹⁵ An academic study of the director's work describes the film as an international co-production with Spanish and Mexican finance in which the two leads embody sexual potency and mastery of the world, and reads Perdita as a ferocious parody of American ideologies about the pleasures of Mexico.¹⁶ De la Iglesia later said he came to La comunidad (2000) straight from shooting Perdita Durango.¹⁷

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026