Ripstein’s startling work is the OG ‘Dogtooth’, about a man who has locked his wife and children in his house for nearly two decades, at once so infuriating to watch and a bleak satire on the hypocrisy of toxic patriarchy and the extremes of parental love.
One of Ripstein’s best-known films, this sensual if sobering drama tackles machismo and homophobia in a small Mexican town and its now dilapidated brothel, featuring an intense performance by the cross-dressing Roberto Cobo.
One of Ripstein’s more transgressive works, this seductive tale of a priest who, out of spite, begins a sexual affair with his maid in his parish, asks us to reconsider the meaning of immorality.
A poor man experiences wealth for the first time as Ripstein’s hard-hitting if straightforward drama depicts the soul-crushing consequences of greed and self-aggrandization.
Tautly-executed, and at times conveying a trepid sense of hopelessness, Ripstein’s work tackles a reformed ex-criminal’s futile attempt in escaping a corrupt system of intimidation and control.
Eternality Tan 