Señorita 89 (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Elena - full transcript

Once upon a time there
was an enchanted forest.

A magical place where
the most beautiful women

in the country went
to learn to be queens.

We'll be watching
you the whole night.

You know what to do.

You'll only be there an hour.

Till they present
the 32 candidates.

When I signal,
follow me. Got it?

Over three months,
a panel of experts

polished and buffed
them, so that Mexico

could choose the
brightest for its crown.



You go on in two
minutes! Everyone ready!

Vainnet and Pastones, don't
make me look bad please.

And now, smile.

Let's go.

Come on.

Attention, girls!
It's almost time.

Concentrate. Chihuahua, Oaxaca.

Poise, elegance. Ready?
No looking at the floor.

Come on. Eyes forward.

Very good, Yucatán.
Suck in your belly.

Energy, Guerrero.

Very good. Very good.
Guerrero, energy.

Nice. Yes,
enchanting. That's it.

Everyone thinks that beauty



is something that simply
happens without any effort.

Ask these girls if
that's the case.

I have watched them
deal with loneliness,

fear, the demands.

And I can assure you that
these women are beautiful

because they've fought
very hard to get here.

And every day they
make an enormous effort

so that the goodness and courage
that is in their hearts...

can be reflected in their faces.

And that turns all of them...

into queens.

I wish you all the
luck in the world.

But this is a party!
Enjoy yourselves!

Where are you going?

Someone more interesting
than me at this party?

Have some?

Really, sweetie? Not here.

Thanks.

Come on, wimps. Let's dance.

- What's with you?
- What?

Where were you, Dolores?

- They can't do this to us.
- "Us?" You've been saved.

We'll leave this hell together.

How are things here?

- Let's dance.
- What are you doing?

You're ruining everything.
Wait till tomorrow.

No. I want to be happy
with you tonight.

- There is no tomorrow.
- What are you doing?

Come on.

Ninety days in paradise
in exchange for a throne.

Sounded like a fairytale.

But it turned out to
be a prison for us all.

Including me.

But then what is beauty?

How does a Masai nomad compare

to a girl from Mongolia

or the queen of
the Rio Carnival?

We can all agree that
all three are beautiful,

but they have nothing in common.

Observe their faces,

their eyes, their
cheekbones, their nostrils.

Try to find a formula that
would include all three.

Erzsébet Báthory, better
known as the Bloody Countess.

She'd make the peasants
who lived on her land

send their pubescent
daughters to her castle,

supposedly to turn
them into ladies.

But actually,

instead of teaching
them embroidery,

she'd slit their throats
and bathe in their blood

in order to attain
eternal youth.

Winnie Ruth Judd murdered her
friends, Agnes and Hedvig,

in the fall of 1931.

She suspected they were
flirting with her boyfriend.

She was caught by
the baggage handler

on the train she
travelled, when he opened

her suitcase and found
pieces of dismembered bodies.

And the best for last.

María Teresa Landa, our
very own Black Widow.

She was Mexico's
first beauty queen.

When she found out her
husband was a bigamist,

she blasted him with the
Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum

that the asshole
kept in his desk.

Beauty isn't something
that emanates from within.

If so, then there wouldn't be

beautiful monsters
or ugly saints.

So, if it's not a quality
inherent to a person,

nor an essential attribute
of the individual,

then what the hell is it?

It's a product of
your perspective.

And of yours.

And yours.

Beauty is an illusion that has
been sold to us as the truth.

And the problem is
that, like any illusion,

it looks like it's really there.

It looks like it has
weight, form, substance,

and it forces us to move
in a special manner,

to occupy space a certain
way, respecting limits

which we've convinced
ourselves are natural.

But in reality, they
have been constructed

for someone else's convenience.

Professor!

I wanted to see if you
got me the meeting.

Tell me that you
got me the meeting?

I don't get who you
think I am, Elena.

Give me a break...

All of you were
tight in your youth.

Those people were
never communists.

Fine, but did you mention me?

Tell me.

Why the hell do you want
to go to a place like that?

What? Remember when Gloria
Steinem went undercover

as a Playboy bunny
for her article?

No, seriously! Trust me!

I swear I know what I'm doing!

Professor!

I'm serious!

Elena Montes de Oca?

Please.

Have a seat.

- She'll be with you in a moment.
- Thank you.

Elena.

Hello.

Let's see...

B.S. in Communications from UNAM

and you're doing your
Masters in history, right?

Yes. My thesis professor...

Yes. Molina Bedia.
I've got it right here.

He's very happy with your
work and speaks highly of you.

Well, then...

- I don't follow.
- What?

Clearly, you have
professional ambitions.

You're an academic, with
intellectual ambitionsà

Why waste your time
teaching General Culture

to beauty queens?

Because I think
they're more than that.

Or at least I think
they should be.

One of them will end
up representing Mexico.

It would be ideal for
the world to find out

that Mexican women are more

than just Doña
Florinda or Lucero.

Why do you care what the
world thinks of Miss Mexico?

I want to do my doctorate
at the Sorbonne.

And I don't have money.

In your pageant I'd earn more

than I would in two years as
associate professor at UNAM.

And, yes.

I do care.

Clearly, you and I
are very different,

but I'm sure that men stop
listening to your ideas

when they get the chance
to look at your legs.

If I can manage to
have a beauty queen

leave them dumb with
what she has in her head

instead of her cleavage...

- Luisa!
- That would be more...

Can you get the
files on the girls?

For you to study and
get to know them.

The rest of the staff
is at La Encantada.

I need you to get
up to speed fast.

- Yes?
- Of course.

Thanks, Elena.

I was officially the
culture professor

for Miss Mexico.

A role Concepción López
Morton had just invented.

The following day I was
to go to La Encantada,

the estate, where
the 32 contestants

would spend the next few months
preparing for the pageant.

Concepción wanted me to polish
the contestants on the inside,

while the others strove to
polish them on the outside.

I wanted to solve the puzzle
about each of these girls.

To understand why so many
women went out of their way

to please a world
that did nothing more

than eat them and spit them out.

The first file I read...

hypnotized me.

But that was to be expected.

Miss Guerrero enchanted
the whole world.

Dolores was always the most
beautiful in her family.

Even more than her
mother, Betsabé Cuna,

better known as Miss
Playa Bonita 1961.

Betsabé started training
Dolores at a very young age.

At 12, she could walk better
in heels than in her sandals.

And the winner is...

Dolores Acevedo!

At 15, she knew exactly the man
who could get her the crown.

The municipal
president of Acapulco

promised her he'd give her
everything she'd possibly need.

In the beginning, all
that Dolores needed

were a few bathing suits
and lots of dresses.

But a couple of years
and crowns later,

she could no longer be the queen
everyone expected her to be,

without a few amphetamines
and lots of cocaine.

Miss Chihuahua had also
learned since childhood

the meaning of the
word "sacrifice."

Her father had to
cross the border

when she was barely seven.

What he earned in Mexico

wasn't even enough to
feed his daughters.

So when he left,

Jocelyn traded school for
11 hour days in a factory.

Hours which turned
into a few pesos

at the end of the month.

Pesos that evaporated
like water.

The new Miss Chihuahua!

Jocelyn Cruz Reinosa
from Ciudad Juárez!

Jocelyn never stopped
believing in miracles.

She always refused to
accept that her future

was to choose between leaving
and be buried by life.

The girls will look after you.

Like many Mexican girls,

Ángeles came from a long
line of abandoned women.

Women who had
discovered as children

that they could only
survive as a pack.

Ángeles should never have
made it to La Encantada.

She wasn't chosen as a winner,

but the day they found
the Queen of Oaxaca

with a bag of marijuana,

she didn't think twice

about accepting a
place in the pageant.

So you're Miss
Weed's replacement.

I mean, you've got to be stupid
to trade the crown for a bag.

Ladies, welcome to La Encantada.

For those who don't know,

this is Concepción López
Morton and Carlos Hidalgo.

Mother and father
of Miss Mexico.

We wanted to be the first
ones to welcome you.

And believe me,

all the work you did to
get here, was worth it.

I always tell Carlos that...

this is my role in the world.

And you don't know how
exciting it is to see you grow,

see you become
queens, all of you.

Now you'll get the contracts,
which I ask you sign today.

There, you will also
find the itinerary

of all that we'll be doing
in these three months.

And of course, also the rules.

Because for us, it's
very important also

that you know the value of
determination and discipline.

Your schedules are
inside your folders.

All of your duties,
your training.

It's like your Bible
for these three months.

Room 201, Guanajuato and Oaxaca.

You're not allowed to make
calls or contact your families.

We will be your only
line of communication

with the outside world.

Room 202, Miss Jalisco
and Miss Yucatán.

The contestants cannot have
any kind of plastic surgery.

- What are you doing?
- Tamara Rodríguez.

Let's go to the pool,
we have two hours.

You're right.

Room 203, Miss Guerrero
and Miss Chihuahua.

See you later.

You agree that you cannot

be under the influence
of any substances.

Miss Chihuahua,

Jocelyn Cruz Reinosa,
22 years old.

Give me a big smile.

Miss Ángeles Santos. Step up.

Welcome.

This is...

my bedroom?

- You swear?
- I swear.

Well, enjoy it, girl.

Step forward.

Hidalgo?

Take a look.

Note how the upper third is.

And there is a slight
anterior facial divergence.

It's not serious. Don't
know what can be done.

It's asymmetric!

Clavicle to nipple.
Touch your nipple.

It's asymmetric.
Show me your hands.

Beautiful.

We need proofs.
Mirko, a picture.

The chin. Chest.
Front and side. Yes?

Miss Guerrero.

Dolores Acevedo, 22 years old.

Step forward.

They're just assholes.

You're gorgeous. The
most beautiful here.

Shoulders back. That's it.

Smile. Open your mouth.

Stick out your
tongue. A cleaning.

Smile. Thanks.

Let's see your profile.

Yes, please. Pull you hair back.

Just to verify. Perfectly
within the standard.

Extraordinary.

The other side.

Check out the Zapotecan.

The one that doesn't talk?

You know what I was thinking?
Why not ask to put us together?

We have more in common.

Yeah, but I don't think we can.

Leave it to me. My dad
will take care of it.

Really?

Yes!

Doctor Hidalgo?

Doctor Hidalgo.

Sorry, I...

Elena?

- Carlos Hidalgo.
- My pleasure.

The pleasure's mine.

How can I help you?

I'm preparing my
first class, and...

your wife said I could ask you
for some books for the girls.

Yes, of course.

I thought I would only
find, I don't know,

books on anatomy?

Wow, you have, you have
a very good selection.

Thanks so much.

I never thought I'd find someone
who'd come to this library,

and ask me for something
that wasn't, I don't know...

The Jane Fonda videos are there.
If you want, I'll get them.

What do you have in mind?

I want something
that shakes them up.

That challenges them.

"Beauty is even harder to
explain than happiness."

Simone de Beauvoir.

"Beauty...

must be broken daily...

to remain beautiful."

- Virginia Woolf.
- Virginia Woolf. Well done.

"Beauty is a cage."

"That can turn into a bird."

- Pizarnik.
- Pizarnik. Well done. Well done.

Mistral, Lispector, Bombal.

Choose.

And take. Excuse me.

- May I?
- Come in.

What did you do here,
Carlos? What's this?

All marked up like a Pollock.

They're just tweaks, details.
They'll be beautiful.

Okay. Tell me about Yucatán.
I don't get Yucatán.

Do you really want to
do all this to her?

- It's not so much.
- Is she that bad?

She's not that bad,
but could be better.

Let's see...

- Who do you want to start with?
- With her...

- Jalisco. Yes, that's fine.
- Right?

What can I do with this?

Don't know.

What do you mean? I imagine
you'll kick her out.

I can't operate on that.
Those stretch marks...

I can't, they'll
accuse us of racism.

Luisa's taking care
of her. Don't worry.

- She is?
- Yes.

There's something urgent
we have to resolve.

It's in the contract,
which you signed,

where you state that you're not
and never have been pregnant.

But you lied to us, and
now we're at great risk,

both of us.

You for being seen as a liar,
and me looking like an idiot.

But you're staying,
no need to worry.

No one needs a
scandal right now.

All that we need is your help.

Look.

This is the consent to
begin your treatment today.

What treatment?

A woman who hasn't given birth

doesn't stain her
blouses with milk. Right?

Very well.

Perfect. That's all,
Ángeles. Thank you.

Excuse me.

How'd you manage
to smuggle this?

If you only knew the
things I smuggled in.

- That's marijuana?
- Like I'm the only one?

Well, no.

Some tequila from home, girls.

Cheers, Jalisco!

Don't wimp out.

What'd you bring?

Pass it.

Let's get to what matters.

Who else thinks

the photographer's
got a big one?

- What? What?
- What a question!

Like you're still virgins?

No way! Are you really virgins?

You idiots.

- I'm not a virgin.
- You're not?

- What?
- Tell us more.

In Guanajuato you talk
sin, not the sinner.

No way!

Stop it. Don't be stupid.

Wanna see if Connie and Charlie
have pasteles in the pantry?

They told us we couldn't
leave our rooms.

They also said we
couldn't change rooms,

and we're here, we
all have what we want.

Right, let's go see.

- Isabel, you can stay here.
- No!

No, wait...

Let's go.

What are you doing?

Are you okay?

I need to go to town
for a couple of hours

and I'll be back.

Come on.

Get in, I'll take you.

You know what?

I was your age once,

and I thought that anything
I broke could be fixed, too.

I'm sorry.

I'm old enough to
give you advice.

And not all mistakes
you make can be fixed.

Luisa, make sure Miss Acevedo

doesn't make mistakes
she can't fix, okay?

I will.

And if you plan to have
secrets, keep them well.

Go to bed.

It's here.

Verónica, do you
have Guerrero there?

Move it, little girl.

How were you planning
on going back?

Dolores had been
hanging by a thread

even before she came
to La Encantada.

The expiration date

stamped on her
beautiful packaging

was right around the corner.

The world was
closing in around her

and the crown could mean
another lover, an extension.

Rare and poisoned air...

But air nonetheless.

The municipal president
took less than five years

to find a new model
far less damaged

by the mean streets of Acapulco.

This was the last throne
left for her to win.

There were no more kingdoms
left for Dolores to conquer.

And even though the crown

had been poisoning
her since childhood,

it was the only life
she knew how to live.

Easy.

Got any more?

As much as you need.

Well?

Look down. You alright? Sure?

Having a good time?
Yes? Eyes open.

Why'd you bring her here?

Because she broke down

and Olga preferred that
the doctors deal with it.

Has my husband seen her?

Rokha checked her.

I was going to tell
the doctor, and...

If he saw her, there's
no need to tell him.

I don't want you
dealing with her.

I don't want you
tending to her. Okay?

- Yes, but...
- What?

The chick's got a very heavy
addiction problem, ma'am.

If I cut off her supply, she'll
have withdrawal symptoms.

Okay. Give her enough
to keep her functional.

Nothing else. Nothing, Nora.

I had to sedate her, ma'am.

Why? What's wrong with her?

Tachycardia, dehydration,
high blood pressure.

Too much junk in her veins.

I think she needs to stay in bed
a few days, till she's stable.

Olga, please. She's
20, don't exaggerate.

With a good night's rest and
some water, she'll be fine.

Want me to ask Diana to
take care of her instead?

You can't?

Excuse me, ma'am.

Your brother's here.

He's with the governor.

No, no, no. Don't start. The
committee approved them all.

They're approved and numbered.
Don't mix them up, please.

A pleasure to meet
you all, ladies.

- She likes to party.
- Thanks. Very kind.

Have you all
finished high school?

What's he doing here?

The photos were supposed
to come out officially

day after tomorrow.

What can I say?
He's the boss now.

What?

The party chose him
as the candidate.

Nobody knows it yet.

But it was supposed to be you.

That's what they said.

Well, surely they'll name you
Secretary to the Governor.

That's also an important
post. It's very strategic.

If I'm not president,
what's the fucking point?

I'm ready when you are.

Silence!

First let's welcome
Néstor Valenzuela Helú,

governor of our state,
who's with us today.

Bravo!

Thanks.

And now, the moment we've
all been waiting for.

For the first time,
we will see the photos

which will make you
known to all of Mexico.

Ready?

There's nothing to fear.

Besides, the sooner we take
care of this, the better.

Yes?

Baja California!

And now, Guerrero!

What an absolutely
marvelous creature.

Where is she? I don't see her.

Tlaxcala!

Next is Chihuahua!

Not a day passes without me
wondering where I would be

if curiosity hadn't gotten
the best of me that night.

If I hadn't allowed
myself to be lead down

into the depths of La Encantada.

Call Concepción. Alert her.

Close the gates to the estate.

Let's check the vital signs.

I wonder if we could
have done something more

than run blindly like
frightened animals.

Elena!

Dolores?

- Are you alright?
- Come on.

Is there really a way
to save ourselves...

Elena!

Run, run!

Come on...

when your world is a trap
designed by the worst predator?