Being a Good Father

This article employs Joan Tronto’s theoretical framework of care practices to analyze how Eugenio Derbez’s film No se aceptan devoluciones depicts male-led child care, reconciling masculine expectations with shifting gender roles. The film illuminates tensions surrounding migration pressures, the unequal distribution of domestic responsibilities, and persistent biases that hold mothers disproportionately accountable for family care. These themes resonate with Tronto’s delineations of the gendered dimensions of care and connect to prevailing issues in Latin American and US Latinx cinema, which often grapple with the intersection of labor precarity, mobility, and entrenched gender hierarchies. Moreover, No se aceptan devoluciones can be situated within a broader Mexican cinematic tradition that seeks to redeem and redefine masculine roles, presenting a more emotionally engaged and nurturing father figure while simultaneously navigating traditional gender expectations. In this context, the protagonist’s journey of embracing the nurturing role of a father to his daughter is celebrated. Yet his arc of sacrificial self-overcoming contrasts with condemning the mother for prioritizing her career aspirations.