WATCH: Salma Hayek Confronts White Elitism in ‘Beatriz at Dinner’ Trailer

By Sameer Rao Apr 13, 2017

Salma Hayek ("Septembers of Shiraz") goes toe-to-toe with a house full of privileged White revelers in the trailer for "Beatriz at Dinner."

The clip, which dropped on YouTube yesterday (April 13), introduces the Mexican-born actress as the film’s titular protagonist. A Latinx immigrant and spiritual health practitioner, Beatriz meets real estate developer Doug Strutt (John Lithgow, "Trial & Error") at a mansion party hosted by mutual clients. Strutt immediately mistakes Beatriz for a domestic servant, then interrupts her at dinner and later asks if she came to the United States legally. Beatriz greets these transgressions with diminishing patience until Strutt shows her a picture of a rhinoceros he killed during a hunting vacation, at which point she throws his phone at him. "You think it’s funny?" she asks a smiling Strutt. "I think it’s sick."

Reviewers for both the Los Angeles Times and Variety interpreted the film as an allegory for contemporary political and social tensions between wealthy White society and marginalized people of color. 

"Beatriz at Dinner" comes to theaters June 9. The comedy-drama, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is directed by Puerto Rican-born Miguel Arteta ("Youth in Revolt"). Connie Britton ("Nashville"), Chloë Sevigny ("Bloodline") and Jay Duplass ("Transparent") all co-star.