Dir: Laura Mana. Spain-Mexico. 100mins.

Prod cos: Sogedasa (The Filmax Group), Visual Grup SL. Co-producers: Resonancia Productora. Backers: Via Digital, Media, Tabasco Films, ICAA, IMCINE, L'Institut Catala de Finances. Spain distrib: Filmax. Int'l sales: Filmax International (34-93-336-8555). Prods: Julio Fernandez, Miguel Torrente. Exec prods: Carlos Fernandez, Fina Torrente. Co-prods: Fernando Camara, Salvador de la Fuente. Scr: Laura Mana. DoP: Henner Hoffman. Prod des: Marisa Pecanins. Ed: Guillermo Maldonado. Music: Francesc Gener. Main cast: Elisabeth Margoni, Jose Sancho, Juan Carlos Colombo, Alex Angulo, Mariola Fuentes, Pilar Bardem.

Actress Laura Mana's feature film directorial debut won kudos on its Spanish premiere and took home the top award at the Malaga Film Festival. Despite a short stint at the local box office, this handsome and humble work of art should continue to make waves on the festival circuit. Next month it screens in the World Cinema sidebar at Sundance, where arthouse sales can be expected.

The story turns on Dolores, a do-gooder housewife considered a saint by neighbours in her barren rural town. When her husband Manolo abandons her for being too good Dolores vows to sin, but her first effort - having sex with a depressed stranger - backfires. Instead, her sexual favours bring peace and happiness, and men begin lining up for a bit of her "charity". The women of the village, pleased with the positive transformations in their husbands, ignore what's happening. However, all that changes when Manolo returns to town.

Director Mana, who also wrote the script, hits just the right note of magic surrealism in a fable-like tale punctuated with hispanic cultural and religious iconography. Reflecting the desolation of the loveless (and thus near childless) town, the first act of Sex is filmed in black and white. The effect is slightly obvious, and arguably lasts too long, but it does pack the change to colour (and later switch back to black and white) with even more emotional punch.

Mana films French actress Elisabeth Margoni - perfect as the self-deprecating Dolores-cum-Lolita - with loving attention to the beauty of her portly, middle-aged figure, so seldom seen in the movies. Mexican actor Juan Carlos Colombo captures the spirit of the all-too-human town priest who, jealous of Dolores' saintly status, attempts to crucify himself in order to die a martyr, perhaps the film's most poignant and humorous sequence.

Supporting cast is led by the always dependable Pilar Bardem, Jose Sancho, Alex Angulo and up-and-comer Mariola Fuentes.