Intrigue

Anna uncovers an incident involving a young Mexican woman, Antonieta, while doing research for a book on women's suicides in the XXth century. In 1931, in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Antonieta shot herself through the heart.

A French psychologist investigates about famous suicidal women. She finds the case of Antonieta Rivas Mercado, a Mexican writer who died inside Paris' Notre Dame in 1931. To follow the investigation she travels to Mexico to reveal her life.—Michel Rudoy <[email protected]>

The story of Antonieta Rivas Mercado is told by a modern French psychologist who is intrigued by Antonieta's history and comes to Mexico to learn more about her and the Mexican fascination with death. The film is set during one of the bloodiest eras of Mexican history and contains some very interesting archival footage of the Revolución.

Antonieta's father designed the Independence Monument, always known as El Ángel, and she is generally believed to have modeled for the angel which fell during the earthquake of 1957. She inherited a fortune when her father died in 1925. She was briefly married and had a son who later married an American woman who published a biography of Antonieta, Under the Shadow of the Angel.

In 1928 President Obregón was assassinated in Guanajuato. A popular former education minister, José Vasconcellos, launched a campaign for the presidency. Antonieta used her money to support the campaign and became his lover.

Vasconcellos lost the election and went into Parisian exile and in1931 Antonieta followed him. She asked Vasconcelos if he needed her and, when he said he did not, used his gun to commit suicide in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.