Tristana [Widescreen]

Fernando Rey plays Don Lope, a free thinking, Spanish dandy who’s liberal ideals are tested when he is entrusted with the guardianship of the beautiful and innocent Tristana (Catherine Deneuve). Soon enough, fatherly affection develops into full blown lust and obsession, as Don Lope coerces Tristana into becoming his lover, all the while maintaining she is free to see other men. However, Don Lope’s principals begin to fall apart when Tristana meets and falls in love with a handsome young artist (Franco Nero), sending the aging lothario into a jealous rage. Tristana is one of director Luis Bunuel’s more sombre efforts, but underlining this tragic tale of the corruption and abuse of power is his trade mark savage wit, his taste for sexual perversity (at one point a prosthetic leg is imbued with a strange erotic tension), and his contempt for the hypocrisy of the church and the ruling class. Adapted from a novel by Benito Perez Galdos. Cast includes Lola Gaos and Jesus Fernandez. In Spanish with English subtitles.