‘Nothing Between Us’ Review: Gael García Bernal Leads a Low-Key Affair in a Thoughtful Romantic Drama
At a luxury resort, two executives connect during a corporate scandal, sparking an affair that leads them to reassess their relationships and life choices.
One of the few filmmakers from Argentina’s early-2000s generation to build a career leaning more commercial than most of his peers, Juan Taratuto has racked up hit after hit with films like No sos vos, soy yo, ¿Quién dice que es fácil?, Un novio para mi mujer and Me casé con un boludo, the latter two part of the jokingly called ASCU (Adrián Suar Cinematic Universe) and, unsurprisingly, major box-office draws. In parallel, he’s also ventured into more intimate territory with smaller projects such as the Patagonia-set La reconstrucción, the less successful Papeles en el viento, and, after a long gap, a solid Mexican-shot thriller, No negociable.
His latest film, Nothing Between Us, feels like a convergence of those different strands. It carries echoes of his early divorce (or remarriage) comedies, blends in the melancholy of his Patagonian drama, and revisits the frictions of coupledom he handled so well in his collaborations with Suar. At the same time, by assembling a Mexican, Uruguayan and Argentine cast, it mirrors the transnational scope of his career—likely also the result of a co-production that notably did not receive backing from Argentina’s now quasi defunct INCAA (though Uruguay stepped in).
This is an adult romantic dramedy, tilted more toward melancholy and introspection than outright humor, occasionally brushing up against drama and largely uninterested in the genre’s usual contrivances or comedic misunderstandings. Gael García Bernal and Natalia Oreiro play Guillermo and Mechi, executives at a multinational food company who meet during an emergency summit at a Mexican resort, convened to handle a food poisoning scandal caused by one of the company’s products. As the corporation scrambles to contain the fallout—often through manipulative or ethically dubious means—Guillermo and Mechi cross paths by chance, bonding after a minor earthquake sends her, a nervous Argentine unused to such tremors, to the pool, while he remains calm, even amused.
They come from very different worlds and, until that moment, had never met. Guillermo is a high-ranking executive from what appears to be a wealthy, powerful background. He has a distant relationship with his wife and struggles to connect with his teenage son. Mechi, by contrast, is attending as a last-minute replacement for an Argentine colleague. She lives a middle-class life with her chaotic husband (Peto Menahem) and their daughter, and is seriously considering leaving him—a well-meaning man who spends his time pitching useless apps or dubious cryptocurrency schemes. (It’s worth noting the film’s slight inconsistency: Mechi presents herself as environmentally conscious—watching activist videos and advocating sustainability—yet is willing to mine crypto at home and work for a food conglomerate.)
Amid the tense corporate meeting, the two begin talking, drinking, sharing personal details, and soon drift into a hotel-room affair. What initially seems fleeting gradually deepens as they open up to each other. At this point, Taratuto largely abandons the conventions of romantic comedy, opting instead to explore, with greater depth, the inner lives of two people well into their forties who feel unfulfilled—not just in their relationships, but in their work and overall direction in life.
Their encounter is partly romantic and partly physical, but fundamentally it plays as an emotional connection that allows both to reassess who they are and what they’re doing. García Bernal and Oreiro make this unlikely situation feel natural, thanks to lively, engaging dialogue and well-handled emotional beats—particularly from Oreiro, whose character seems perpetually juggling multiple crises at once. Nothing Between Us—a title with a suggestive double meaning—works best as a portrait of midlife crisis, centered on two individuals facing a personal and professional crossroads they don’t quite know how to navigate.
In the background, the corporate poisoning scandal, Mechi’s attempts to push the company toward environmental responsibility, and Guillermo’s tinnitus (used more as a metaphor for his existential unease) remain secondary threads. These elements function primarily as catalysts for the bond between two people who both belong to—and feel alienated from—a world of ambitious middle managers entangled in the corporate spin and moral compromises that keep the business afloat.
Taratuto keeps his focus squarely on his protagonists, both together and apart. In that sense, the film recalls The Bridges of Madison County and similar stories about brief encounters that profoundly alter their participants, though not necessarily in the ways a more conventional, youthful romantic comedy might suggest. Its maturity and restraint serve as a reminder that love often moves in stranger, less predictable ways than we expect.
