El desfile del amor

Mexico, 1942: this country has just declared war on Germany, and its capital has recently been invaded by the most unusual and colorful array of characters: German communists, Spanish republicans, Trotsky and his disciples, Mimí, a milliner, Balkan kings, agents from a wide variety of secret services, and wealthy Jewish financiers. Many years later, after the chance discovery of some documents, a historian interested in this fascinating context attempts to solve a perplexing murder committed back then, when he was ten years old. The narrative—which traverses the eccentric poles of Mexican society, the corridors of high politics, the established intelligentsia, and their most extravagant offshoots—allows Sergio Pitol not only to paint a rich and varied gallery of characters but also to reflect on the impossibility of attaining truth. As in a Tirso de Molina comedy, nobody knows for sure who is who, confusions follow one another endlessly and the result is this delightful parade, which is named after one of Lubitsch's most famous comedies.