Y Tu Mamá También (2001) Script Review | #86 WGA 101 Greatest Scripts of the 21st Century
Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón turn a road trip into an unorthodox and thoughtful meditation of friendship, masculinity, and sex in this vibrant screenplay.
Logline: Set against the backdrop of Mexico’s political backdrop in 1999, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.
Written by: Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón
Pages: N/A (NO SCRIPT AVAILABLE)
‘Two horny teenagers and a sexy older woman go on a road trip’ sounds like the setup for an American Pie story, but American Pie this is most certainly not. Yes, it is raunchy, and yes there is sex, but not in the way it is designed to make you laugh as much as depict it as it is. Y Tu Mamá También (translated to ‘And Your Mother Too’) has plenty on its mind- there’s friendship, there’s masculinity, and politics and socioeconomic differences make its presence felt without being intrusive- but it arranges these ideas in layers, like a nesting doll, peeling them back gradually with grace and style.
However, I am gleaning this from the finished film for only one reason: There isn’t a script. If there is a script, it isn’t available online, and if it is available, it would most likely not contain many of the wonderful images and moments that make Y Tu Mamá También memorable. According to sources, the screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón and his brother, Carlos Cuarón, was “minimal and unelaborate” to allow the actors to contribute during rehearsals. A bold and challenging exercise, given that Gael Gabríel Bernal and Diego Luna were not as experienced as Maribel Verdú; but artistic talent has no age limits and their improvisations resulted in what you see. Even without a finished script around, the Cuarón brothers were nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 75th Academy Awards.
So I’ve tried to reverse engineer what the screenplay might have been like based on what I watched; no easy feat because it was never clear which parts were scripted, and which parts were not. A lot of guesswork went into it, but let’s see what we can take away from it.
What is the plot of Y Tu Mamá También?
Y Tu Mamá También takes the form of a road trip from Mexico City to a beach of paradise in Oaxaca. The principal characters are two best friends- the upper-class Tenoch, and the middle-class, Julio- and Tenoch’s cousin’s wife, Luisa. While Tenoch’s and Julio’s girlfriends are away on a trip in Italy, the two boys spend their last summer before starting university in a state of idleness. But when Luisa unexpectedly accepts the boys’ initially imaginary invitation to go to a beach, they hastily assemble a plan and hit the road. Along the way, Luisa gets to know Tenoch and Julio while challenging their notions of manhood, masculinity, and sexuality; all of this unfolding against a backdrop where Mexico is getting its first taste of democracy in 1999 after seventy years of governance by the Institutional Revolutionary Party. They drive through various spheres of life- police checkpoints, a roadblock where a family demands a donation for their “queen”- a girl in bridal white, and the beach itself- that hint at the harsher realities and poverty in the country that the two boys, Tenoch especially, are secluded from.
Here's what I think was improvised during rehearsals: A lot of the exchanges and dialogue. I don’t mean from scratch; I think a direction was given— for example, Tenoch and Julio talking about their friends and the Manifesto— but how they got to it was left up to them, creating a naturalness that is difficult if not impossible to write on page. Some bits, such as the revelations that the boys cheated with each other’s girlfriends, I believe were written because it is an integral component to creating tension and drama. It’s difficult to know if most of the imagery was planned before hand or discovered while shooting. But I’m certain that all of the narrator’s dialogue was scripted, because that plays a crucial role.
The inclusion of the omniscient narrator adds a fascinating layer to Y Tu Mamá También: Rather than providing exposition, he offers context that enhances what is unfolding. For instance, he highlights the boys’ socioeconomic class differences by mentioning that Julio always lights a match after using the bathroom in Tenoch’s house, and Tenoch always uses his foot to lift up the toilet seat when he’s at Julio’s (and the motel, too). The narrator is unbound from time: He goes back to the past to describe a motorcycle accident 10 years earlier on a stretch of road they are passing through, which was the accident that claimed the life of Luisa’s young lover before her marriage; towards the end of the screenplay, he moves into the future to tell us how the trip ended and the outcomes without showing, as well as telling us the fate of a fisherman who will be forced to abandon his way of life due to the construction of a hotel on the beach, where he will ultimately be fated to return and work at the hotel as a janitor. Using a narrator unconnected to the events is a device borrowed from the French New Wave films, and Cuarón has specifically cited the 1962 French film Adieu Philippine as a direct influence.
What is the screenplay structure of Y Tu Mamá También?
But amid all this, Y Tu Mamá También adheres to the structures of a three-act drama. It’s not visible but it’s there. This is a big takeaway: If you have a reliable structure in place, you can get as daring and experimental as you like while being assured that it will be accessible to a general audience. The Cuarón brothers admit that they had no idea who would make their screenplay- and it would never get made in puritanical Hollywood!- but I am certain that if they had a confusing structure that weakened the drama and tension, we would not be talking about it today.
Here is the structure of the Y Tu Mamá También screenplay:
Act 1
Setup
Tenoch’s and Julio’s girlfriends go to Italy, the boys hang out and party and idle.
Inciting Incident
At a wedding, they run into Luisa and invite her on a trip to the beach but she declines
Plot Point 1
After receiving a terminal diagnosis and Julio confessing that he cheated on her, Luisa calls up Tenoch to accept their invitation; they quickly figure out a plan and hit the road.
Act 2
Rising Action
Along the drive, the boys boast about their exploits and their friendship, while Luisa tells them about her life; the conversation gradually turns to deeper and uncomfortable territory, such as talking about their sex lives and Luisa’s first love who died in an accident when he was 17- the same age of Tenoch and Julio; the car radiator blows and they spend the night at a motel until it is fixed
Midpoint
When Tenoch goes to ask Luisa for shampoo, she ends up seducing him but Julio, who sees them, feels betrayed and tells Tenoch that he slept with Tenoch’s girlfriend; tensions rise
Luisa, feeling responsible for the tension between the friends, decides she has to restore the balance and the next day, she seduces Julio in the car
Plot Point 2/Low Point
But when Tenoch reveals that he slept with Julio’s girlfriend, Julio erupts with anger and almost comes to blows with his friend; Luisa tries to stop him but when he shoves her, she storms off
Tenoch and Julio temporarily put aside their differences to convince Luisa to stay and agree to let her be in charge
Act 3
Build Up
Lusia lays out her ground rules, similar to their Manifesto; they get lost initially but discover the next day that they accidentally found the beach in the end
They enjoy the beach and hang out with Chuy, a fisherman, and his family; Tenoch and Julio patch up their differences over a game of football
When they return to their campsite, they discover pigs have ruined it, but Chuy offers them lodging for the night
Climax
They get drunk and the boys get confessional, and it all culminates in a threesome
Finale
But the next day, Tenoch and Julio are feeling awkward, and they return home without Luisa, who has opted to stay back; later, their girlfriends break up with them and the two boys stop hanging out as well
Nearly a year later, they run into each other and awkwardly grab a cup of coffee, where Tenoch reveals that Luisa died and had known about her condition the entire time; they leave, and the narrator states that they will never meet again.
Who wrote the screenplay for Y Tu Mamá También?
The script for Y Tu Mamá También was written by Alfonso Cuarón and his brother, Carlos. At the time, Alfonso had moved to Hollywood and made A Little Princess (to good reviews) and a modern adaptation of Great Expectations (to mixed reviews). Wanting to reject the techniques he’d used in his previous films and return to a guerilla-style of filmmaking, he called up Carlos and asked if he wanted to write a script with him. The idea of a road trip movie had existed as a concept even before Alfonso Cuarón had made his first movie, drawing inspiration from trips taken as adolescents (but none involving a beautiful older woman). While Carlos would experience modest cinematic success in Mexico, Y Tu Mamá También set Alfonso on a new path to greater heights; his next film would be none other than Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is not only arguably the best of the franchise but also added style and flair that allowed future directors Mike Newell and David Yates to also take chances. This would be followed by the acclaimed Children of Men (#18 on the WGA’s List of 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century), Gravity and Roma (#62 on the WGA’s List of 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century); for the latter two pictures, he’d win the Oscar for Best Director.
It’s a pity that there isn’t a screenplay available online because this is the first non-English language script on the WGA list (starting from the bottom, that is); however, an English reader may not have understood it if it was written in Spanish (unless they knew Spanish), so I’m not altogether sure if it would have helped if it was available. Still, there’s plenty to learn and it’s always worth repeating: If you want to get experimental but you always want to ensure that your story reaches enough of an audience to recoup your costs, make sure there’s a structure to your screenplay that will make it easy to follow the events unfolding.
Notes:
Wood, Jason (2006) The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema