Ashes of Paradise (Spanish: Cenizas del paraíso) is a 1997 Argentine crime drama film directed by Marcelo Piñeyro.

It tells in flashbacks how the untroubled private happiness of a family – a judge and his three grown-up sons – crumbles between loyalty and betrayal, blind trust and suspicions.

[1][2] The film opens with the fall of the respected judge Costa Makantasis (Héctor Alterio) from the Federal Courthouse.

Next, his oldest son Pablo (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is seen dragging the body of young and beautiful Ana Muro (Leticia Brédice) through the house in which he lives with his two younger brothers.

The case of Ana Muro, however, investigated by Beatriz Teller (Cecilia Roth), is complicated by the fact that all three sons confess the murder, each claiming that he acted alone and that the other two are innocent; and really some evidence speaks against each one of them.

Fearing that a dirty truth behind the supposed suicide shall be covered up, she risks her career by rejecting to give up her case.

Combining cutbacks with segments of the investigations and hearings, the film sets to unravelling the story leading up to the deaths.

In each part, fragments of the story are shown from the perspective of the respective character, combining to the complete picture only at the end of the film.

For a short time, everything seemed perfect: Alejandro and Ana were a happy couple, and the Makantasis family celebrated the father's anniversary with a frolicsome party.