Plot
The story of a young woman's descent into the kinky and dangerous sexual underground in Madrid.

Release Year: 1990

Rating: 5.8/10 (1,372 voted)

Director: Bigas Luna

Stars: Francesca Neri, Óscar Ladoire, María Barranco

Storyline
The story of a young woman's descent into the kinky and dangerous sexual underground in Madrid.

Writers: Bigas Luna, Almudena Grandes

Cast:
Francesca Neri - Lulú
Óscar Ladoire - Pablo (as Oscar Ladoire)
María Barranco - Ely
Fernando Guillén Cuervo - Marcelo
Rosana Pastor - Chelo
Javier Bardem - Jimmy
Juan Graell - Remy
Rodrigo Valverde - Pablito
Pilar Bardem - Encarna
Marta May - Madre de Lulú
Gloria Rodriquez - Cristina (as Gloria Rodríguez)
Àngel Jové - Alicantino (as Angel Jové)
Ainara Pérez - Lulú niña
Juan Sala - Padre de Lulú
Pepa Serrano - Flamenca

Release Date: 13 December 1990

Runtime: 95 min

Trivia:
Ángela Molina pulled out just 10 days before the filming started. She and her sister Mónica Molina were going to play Lulú in her different life stages.

Quotes:
Lulú: I never meant to get into incest.

One woman's desires

Rating: 7/10

This early (1990) major feature from Bigas Luna is the one which – not surprisingly – got him noticed. It is an uncompromising study of sexuality, exploring desires which most directors would shy away from – on and probably off the camera. Italian actress Francesca Neri plays the lead character. It's an erotic, uninhibited performance, taking Lulu from an innocent virgin with a crush on her brother's friend to a woman so desperate for carnal gratification that she trawls bars looking for men with which to have three-way sex. For some, the film's frankness – masturbation, homosexual sex and cunnilingus – and exploration of everything from transsexual sex to incest might bring it close to pornography. But it is refreshing to see these challenging areas of sex dealt with by a competent director and good cast of actors. It hints at the themes which would run through Luna's later work, such as Jamon, Jamon and Golden Balls but without the quirky humour of those films. Slightly exhausting, perhaps taking on too much of the dark side of sexuality.

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