My Fault (Spanish: Culpa mía) is a 2023 Spanish romantic drama film directed by Domingo González in his directorial feature length debut and starring Nicole Wallace and Gabriel Guevara. It is based on the Wattpad story of the same name by Mercedes Ron.

Plot

17-year-old Noah and her mother Rafaela pack and move to live with Rafaela's new husband, billionaire William Leister. Noah is upset over leaving behind her boyfriend Dan and her friends, and is frustrated by the extremely lavish lifestyle William lives that she is now a part of. Overheard criticizing the Leister family and their home on a call with her best friend, she immediately gets off on the wrong foot with her new step-brother, Nick. During the family's first dinner out together at a restaurant, Nick and Noah argue and both decide to leave, so the parents urge Nick to drive Noah home. When Noah makes a rude comment about his mother, Nick leaves her on the side of the road. She hitches a ride with Mario, a man who turns out to be headed to the same party Nick is going to. At the party, Noah witnesses Nick make out with multiple women, drink, and smoke. Noah sucker punches Nick and they argue about their behavior and what their parents would think, but start to acknowledge their sexual tension. Nick points out Noah's figure-eight knot tattoo, which she states symbolizes strength. Noah meets Nick's friends, including Jenna and her boyfriend Lion, while she is frustrated she can't view both her boyfriend's and best friend's social media stories. She also meets Ronnie, recently released from jail, and his friend Tipo, who forcefully encourages Noah to drink a spiked alcoholic soda. Nick intervenes and attacks Tipo but Noah criticizes him for his violence before becoming inebriated by the drugs. Nick takes her home and carries her to bed, where she dreams flashbacks of the abuse her mom and she received when she was a child by a man, (unseen to the audience but assumed to be her father.) He also creates a cover story for their parents, who now think their children are getting along. Noah attends a street race Nick is competing in. Nick is distracted upon seeing Noah but recovers and wins his race. Noah receives an Instagram message from an unknown user containing pictures of her boyfriend kissing her best friend. Jenna encourages her to dance and make out with any hot guy to feel better. Noah does so and tries to get a picture of them kissing to send to her boyfriend. Nick intervenes under the guise of being worried about Noah's safety and sees the message. Understanding what she was trying to do, he offers to kiss her instead. They do so but are clearly tempted to continue even after getting the shot. Noah sends the photo to her boyfriend while waiting in Nick's car for a ride home. Noah starts the car, Ronnie pulls up beside her and states since the car is at the starting line, the next race is beginning and if she leaves Nick's car driverless, they will be forfeit and Ronnie will automatically win. Nick, who has been making out with another woman, hears the starting horn but is too late to get to the car. Noah races skillfully and taunts Ronnie, who cheats by ramming the rear of Nick's car repeatedly. Noah wins the race and gloats that a woman beat him. However, Ronnie states Nick was the one who was supposed to race and that they cheated, which makes him the winner, so Nick has to pay him €15,000 along with his car. Ronnie insults Noah, prompting Nick to attack him and the crowd erupts into a gang fight. Nick notices Noah shut down in a panic attack, experiencing flashbacks of her abuse, and they leave in Lion's car with Jenna with Ronnie chasing after them on foot. Noah notices Nick has a tattoo of the same symbol. Noah mopes in bed until Rafaela and Jenna encourage her to get up. Nick's been missing for 4 days and she keeps receiving threatening DMs. In truth he's been visiting his younger half-sister (through his mother) in secret. He misses his dad's company gala, disappointing him and Rafaela, but returns home that night and bonds with Noah over racing and his sister. They kiss passionately while acknowledging that it's wrong as they're legally related and Noah is underage, but stop just before Rafaela walks in the room. Rafaela invites Noah's ex-boyfriend over to cheer her up. Noah is worried that if Dan recognizes Nick from the photo, he'll tell their parents about the kiss. She tells him to leave but he can't get a flight until the next day. Nick acts jealous. She receives another threat and accuses Dan but he denies it. Meanwhile, Ronnie meets with a man who chastises him for not already getting Noah. Nick returns home beat up after a fight with Ronnie and is dejected after seeing Dan enter Noah's room, but finds her asleep outside. He notices a scar on her abdomen and she punches him in surprise. While she tends to his wounds they talk about being together and Nick swears to stop fighting. They become intimate again before Dan interrupts. Noah tells Dan in order to gain the forgiveness he wants from her, he needs to not say anything. Nick, Noah, and their friends go to a fight club. Nick joins a fight and then attacks Mario when he kisses Noah. Nick grabs Noah forcefully and she breaks up with him due to the violence. It's revealed Noah's dad, Jonás, was a rally driver and she claims he died in an accident. In truth, he is alive and was Ronnie's cellmate in prison. He is now seeking revenge and is the one threatening Noah. Rafaela is concerned so William tells Nick that Jonás tried to kill Noah as a child and asks him to look out for her. At a party, Nick's on-again, off-again girlfriend Anna locks Noah in a dark closet causing her to have another flashback and panic attack episode. Nick rescues her and they reconcile. William finds them in bed together and Noah says it's for the best that they break up, as Rafaela can't lose what she has with William. They escape to the beach and have sex as a final goodbye. While Nick is inside a gas station buying condoms, Ronnie abducts Noah. Nick gets the police involved and informs their parents, who make him promise to stop seeing Noah if they get her back. Jonás knocks out Ronnie before demanding €1 million cash from William and Rafaella. Nick realizes his insurance has a tracker in his car so they can find Jonás and Ronnie's hideout. Jonás finds out and a car chase ensues, one being driven by Noah held hostage by Jonás, and the other being driven by Nick and a police officer. Jonás attempts to shoot Rafaela but William blocks the bullet with the bag of money. Nick and Noah execute a skillful maneuver on a dock, giving the police officer the opportunity to shoot Jonás through the open car windows, killing him. Nick and Noah decide to continue their relationship, but they are watched by their parents who vow to break them up at any cost.

Cast

Production

The film is based on the Wattpad story Culpa mía by Mercedes Ron, later expanded into a book trilogy published by Penguin Random House. It is a Pokeepsie Films (Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang) production. Shooting locations in the Costa del Sol included Torremolinos, Manilva, and Marbella.

Release

The film debuted on Amazon Prime Video on 8 June 2023. According to Amazon Prime Video, the film reportedly attained the best opening three-day viewership figures for any non-English local original in the history of the service.

Reception

Lucas Hill-Paul of Daily Express rated the film 2 out of 5 stars, considering that it might be "Prime Video's trashiest venture yet, but it at least arrives with a self-aware wink and two likable leads". John Serba of Decider.com gave My Fault a negative review, deeming it to be "an atrocious movie", with the characters being otherwise "insipid and rudimentary". My Fault became Amazon Prime Video's most popular film worldwide in 2023. The movie remained in the top 5 the following year in 2024 and became the #4 most popular movie on Prime in 2024.

Sequels and adaptation

Prime Video green-lit the production of two sequels completing Mercedes Ron's book trilogy: Culpa Tuya and Culpa Nuestra. Both sequels feature Domingo González in direction duties. Culpa Tuya released on Prime Video on December 27, 2024. In May 2024, an English-language remake, My Fault: London was reported to have wrapped filming. It is directed by Dani Girdwood and Charlotte Fassler, based on a script by Melissa Osborne. It stars Asha Banks and Matthew Broome as Noah and Nick's counterparts, respectively.

See also

List of Spanish films of 2023

References

External links

My Fault at IMDb