The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002)
Movie · 2002 · Drama, Romance · 1h 58m · R · Spanish
Curator score: 3.7/10 (37.5K ratings)
Tagline: Lead us not into temptation
Sent to Mexico to help take care of aging Father Benito, young Father Amaro faces a moral challenge when he meets a 16-year-old girl who he starts an affair with. Likewise, the girl's mother had been having an affair with Father Benito. Father Amaro must choose between a holy or sinful life.
Ratings:
- Curator score: 3.7/10
- IMDb: 6.7/10
- Letterboxd: 3.32/5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 63%
- Metacritic: 60
- TMDB: 6.7/10
Director: Carlos Carrera
Production: Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, Alameda Films, Cinecolor-México, Cinecolor-Argentina, Artcam y Fonds Sud Cinéma, Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancón, Sancho Gracia, Angélica Aragón, Luisa Huertas, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Gastón Melo, Damián Alcázar, Andrés Montiel, Gerardo Moscoso, Alfredo González, Verónica Langer, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Lorenzo de Rodas, Roger Nevares, Jorge Zárate, Juan Ignacio Aranda, Blanca Loaria
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict: A provocative, morally messy melodrama that uses scandal to probe hypocrisy, desire, and institutional power. It’s most effective as a conversation starter: uneven in places, but sharp enough to linger because it treats its taboo material as social critique, not just shock.
Best for: viewers interested in religious hypocrisy and institutional corruption; fans of Latin American social dramas; audiences who like taboo romance and moral ambiguity; people drawn to early-2000s prestige scandal films
Skip if: you want a subtle or restrained romance; you’re uncomfortable with sexual misconduct and age-gap exploitation; you prefer clean moral resolutions; you’re looking for a purely character-driven film without soap-opera intensity
Overview: The Crime of Padre Amaro is a glossy, combustible melodrama that turns clerical scandal into a critique of power, desire, and moral rot. It’s built around a knowingly sensational premise, but the film’s real target is the culture that enables secrecy and self-deception around it.
Worth noting: What makes it stick is the tension between its pulpy setup and its serious social undercurrent. The film leans into temptation, hypocrisy, and public outrage, while also reflecting a Mexico in which religion, politics, and private vice are tightly entangled.
Bottom line: It can feel broad and a little overripe, but that volatility is part of its appeal. If you’re open to a film that is messy, controversial, and emotionally blunt, it has enough force and cultural bite to justify the watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews:
- evita: for the first time ever i want to choke Gael Garcia Bernal in a nonsexual way
- laura sinai: gael garcía bernal was the original hot priest
- eve 💿: still not over the fact that she said she masturbates to jesus
- sadtopic 😇: ABORTO LEGAL, SEGURO Y GRATUITO
- dana: padre amaro’s only crime was being too sexy
Recommended similar titles:
- The Magdalene Sisters (2002 · Drama, History · 1h 59m · R · Curator 9.9/10 (460 ratings))
Shares the critique of religious institutions and the damage caused by enforced morality, but from a harsher, more overtly systemic angle.
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1988 · Drama · 2h 44m · R · Curator 8.1/10 (191.8K ratings))
A provocative exploration of faith, desire, and spiritual conflict that similarly courts controversy around sacred figures.
- Secrets & Lies (1996 · Drama · 2h 22m · R · Curator 9.6/10 (112.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Max)
For viewers drawn to family shame, emotional fallout, and the way buried truths corrode relationships.
- Y Tu Mamá También (2001 · Drama, Romance · 1h 46m · NR · Curator 9.3/10 (564K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads)
Offers the same early-2000s Mexican energy, sexual frankness, and coming-of-age moral drift, though with a very different tone.
- The Reader (2008 · Drama, Romance · 2h 4m · R · Curator 4.8/10 (409.8K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Curiosity Stream)
A morally fraught relationship drama that asks viewers to sit with discomfort, guilt, and the consequences of desire.
- A History of Violence (2005 · Drama, Thriller, Crime · 1h 36m · R · Curator 6.9/10 (549.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Max)
Like this film, it pairs intimacy with hidden sin and examines how respectability masks darker impulses.
- The Handmaiden (2016 · Thriller, Drama, Romance · 2h 25m · R · Curator 9.7/10 (930.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video)
A more stylized but equally seductive tale of manipulation, desire, and power imbalance.
- The Dreamers (2003 · Drama, Romance · 1h 55m · NC-17 · Curator 3.5/10 (144.2K ratings))
For audiences interested in transgressive sexuality, youthful recklessness, and the collision of politics with private obsession.
- The Piano Teacher (2001 · Drama, Romance · 2h 11m · R · Curator 8.5/10 (380.6K ratings) · Where to watch: Max)
For its unsettling study of repression, desire, and self-destruction, with a similarly uncompromising adult tone.
- Breaking the Waves (1996 · Drama, Romance · 2h 39m · R · Curator 8.9/10 (154.1K ratings) · Where to watch: MUBI)
Explores faith, sexuality, and punishment in a way that is emotionally extreme and spiritually charged.
- The Age of Innocence (1993 · Drama, Romance · 2h 18m · PG · Curator 8.0/10 (212.4K ratings) · Where to watch: TCM)
A refined look at social rules versus private longing, useful if you’re interested in desire constrained by moral codes.
- Talk to Her (2002 · Drama, Romance · 1h 52m · R · Curator 8.2/10 (220.9K ratings))
For viewers who appreciate morally complicated relationships and a strong interest in desire, obsession, and ethical unease.
Topics: drama, romance, religious scandal, moral ambiguity, taboo relationship, social critique, melodrama, controversy, early 2000s, Latin American cinema
https://watchlist.tannermartz.com/apple/movie/the-crime-of-padre-amaro/542
The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002)
Movie · 2002 · Drama, Romance · 1h 58m · R · Spanish
Curator score: 3.7/10 (37.5K ratings)
Lead us not into temptation
Overview Sent to Mexico to help take care of aging Father Benito, young Father Amaro faces a moral challenge when he meets a 16-year-old girl who he starts an affair with. Likewise, the girl's mother had been having an affair with Father Benito. Father Amaro must choose between a holy or sinful life.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.7/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.32/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 63%
Metacritic: 60
TMDB: 6.7/10
Production Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, Alameda Films, Cinecolor-México, Cinecolor-Argentina, Artcam y Fonds Sud Cinéma, Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad
Cast Gael García Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancón, Sancho Gracia, Angélica Aragón, Luisa Huertas, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Gastón Melo, Damián Alcázar, Andrés Montiel, Gerardo Moscoso, Alfredo González, Verónica Langer, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Lorenzo de Rodas, Roger Nevares, Jorge Zárate, Juan Ignacio Aranda, Blanca Loaria
Where to watch Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A provocative, morally messy melodrama that uses scandal to probe hypocrisy, desire, and institutional power. It’s most effective as a conversation starter: uneven in places, but sharp enough to linger because it treats its taboo material as social critique, not just shock.
Best for
viewers interested in religious hypocrisy and institutional corruption
fans of Latin American social dramas
audiences who like taboo romance and moral ambiguity
people drawn to early-2000s prestige scandal films
Skip if
you want a subtle or restrained romance
you’re uncomfortable with sexual misconduct and age-gap exploitation
you prefer clean moral resolutions
you’re looking for a purely character-driven film without soap-opera intensity
Overview
The Crime of Padre Amaro is a glossy, combustible melodrama that turns clerical scandal into a critique of power, desire, and moral rot. It’s built around a knowingly sensational premise, but the film’s real target is the culture that enables secrecy and self-deception around it.
Worth noting
What makes it stick is the tension between its pulpy setup and its serious social undercurrent. The film leans into temptation, hypocrisy, and public outrage, while also reflecting a Mexico in which religion, politics, and private vice are tightly entangled.
Bottom line
It can feel broad and a little overripe, but that volatility is part of its appeal. If you’re open to a film that is messy, controversial, and emotionally blunt, it has enough force and cultural bite to justify the watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
evita (3.5★) · 947 likes
for the first time ever i want to choke Gael Garcia Bernal in a nonsexual way
laura sinai (3.5★) · 626 likes
gael garcía bernal was the original hot priest
eve 💿 · 494 likes
still not over the fact that she said she masturbates to jesus
sadtopic 😇 (3★) · 402 likes
ABORTO LEGAL, SEGURO Y GRATUITO
dana (3★) · 392 likes
padre amaro’s only crime was being too sexy
Recommended similar titles
2002 · Drama, History · 1h 59m · R · Curator 9.9/10 (460 ratings)
Shares the critique of religious institutions and the damage caused by enforced morality, but from a harsher, more overtly systemic angle.
1988 · Drama · 2h 44m · R · Curator 8.1/10 (191.8K ratings)
A provocative exploration of faith, desire, and spiritual conflict that similarly courts controversy around sacred figures.
1996 · Drama · 2h 22m · R · Curator 9.6/10 (112.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Max
For viewers drawn to family shame, emotional fallout, and the way buried truths corrode relationships.
2001 · Drama, Romance · 1h 46m · NR · Curator 9.3/10 (564K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Offers the same early-2000s Mexican energy, sexual frankness, and coming-of-age moral drift, though with a very different tone.
2008 · Drama, Romance · 2h 4m · R · Curator 4.8/10 (409.8K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Curiosity Stream
A morally fraught relationship drama that asks viewers to sit with discomfort, guilt, and the consequences of desire.
2005 · Drama, Thriller, Crime · 1h 36m · R · Curator 6.9/10 (549.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Max
Like this film, it pairs intimacy with hidden sin and examines how respectability masks darker impulses.
2016 · Thriller, Drama, Romance · 2h 25m · R · Curator 9.7/10 (930.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
A more stylized but equally seductive tale of manipulation, desire, and power imbalance.
2003 · Drama, Romance · 1h 55m · NC-17 · Curator 3.5/10 (144.2K ratings)
For audiences interested in transgressive sexuality, youthful recklessness, and the collision of politics with private obsession.
2001 · Drama, Romance · 2h 11m · R · Curator 8.5/10 (380.6K ratings) · Where to watch: Max
For its unsettling study of repression, desire, and self-destruction, with a similarly uncompromising adult tone.
1996 · Drama, Romance · 2h 39m · R · Curator 8.9/10 (154.1K ratings) · Where to watch: MUBI
Explores faith, sexuality, and punishment in a way that is emotionally extreme and spiritually charged.
1993 · Drama, Romance · 2h 18m · PG · Curator 8.0/10 (212.4K ratings) · Where to watch: TCM
A refined look at social rules versus private longing, useful if you’re interested in desire constrained by moral codes.
2002 · Drama, Romance · 1h 52m · R · Curator 8.2/10 (220.9K ratings)
For viewers who appreciate morally complicated relationships and a strong interest in desire, obsession, and ethical unease.
Topics
drama, romance, religious scandal, moral ambiguity, taboo relationship, social critique, melodrama, controversy, early 2000s, Latin American cinema
Open The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002) on Curator TV