93 mins, 1987
The critically acclaimed feature drama starring Jackie Burroughs was based on the book “Give Sorrow Words – Maryse Holder’s Letters From Mexico”

Awards/Nominations

• Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television – Genie Award – Best Actor
• Genie nominations – Best Picture and Best Director

Credits

• A Film by: Jackie Burroughs, Louise Clark, John Frizzell, John Walker, Aerlyn Weissman
• Script: Jackie Burroughs
• Cast: Jackie Burroughs, Erando Gonzales, Javier Torres Zarragoza, Anita Olanick, Diane D’Aquila
• Cinematographer: John Walker, csc
• Sound: Aerlyn Weissman
• Editor: Alan Lee
• Supervising Editor: Susan Martin
• Music: Ahmed Hassan, John Lang
• Associate Producer Mexico: Dulce Kuri
• Production Company: A Winter Tan Collective
• Produced with the participation of the Ontario Film Development Corporation, Telefilm Canada, and the assistance of The Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council

“Strange movie, impossible to classify. It’s based on letters by American feminist Maryse Holder, sent to girlfriends back home while she was abandoning herself to lust in Mexico, published (after her death at the hands of a Mexican stud) under the title Give Sorrow Words. The movie is framed as a sexual monologue: we see much more of the author (played by co-director Burroughs in a performance of awesome spiritual nakedness) than we do of the Mexican cocks she craves. The result is a bit like a female rewrite of Genet, a meditation in strictly physical terms on sex, desire, and frustration. Whatever else you think about it, it’s certainly the only film of its kind.”  Time Out, London