Vertical Love

The architecture student Estela (Silvia Aguila) makes a suicide attempt after her plans for solving Havana's housing shortage are rejected. This brings her into contact with earthy, cynical hospital nurse Ernesto (Jorge Perugorria). Estela invites him home for dinner, and he succeeds in offending everyone present. Unable to find a quiet spot to be alone, they finally find a squatters' tenement, where their sexual frenzy causes a ceiling to collapse. They next try vertical love in a stalled elevator, trapping people in the modern building minus stairs. Fleeing responsibilities, they stage a romantic rendezvous alongside a country river, but once again they are interrupted as Cuban commissars arrive with papers and forms because the couple constructs a hut beneath a bridge. Amid the misadventures, lust turns to love

Directed by Arturo Sotto Díaz, Vertical Love leans on a strong ensemble — Jorge Perugorría, Silvia Águila, Susana Pérez — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about comedy titles of 1997.