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Rating: Lulù is only 15 years old, but her curiosity about sex and eroticism is unstoppable, just as it's challenging to tame the desire to timidly brush against this strange and dark universe that she has only ever imagined.
One day Lulù falls in love with Pablo, a charming, much older man. Pablo also likes Lulù: he courts her as one would court a teenager, at least until the first serious date. As soon as the curtain of embarrassment and lack of familiarity falls, the spring of heightened eroticism is triggered. Lulù is more excited than ever, and those perverse games with which Pablo provokes her are embarrassing and new to her but also terribly irresistible. For fifteen-year-old Lulù, the journey into the murky world of sex has just begun, but she seems unwilling to stop that wonderful train full of emotions.
Years go by, and Lulù and Pablo are now a married couple. A normal couple, with ups and downs, even though difficult moments occur much more frequently than Lulù would have hoped. And what if Pablo was just a silly youthful crush? Lulù is tormented, realizing the flame of passion has extinguished, turning the couple into a microcosm full of nothing. Fortunately, there is sex, as hard and edgy as she remembered, the only glue left of a relationship destined to nosedive.
Monotony will be broken by Ely, a transvestite friend of Pablo's, perverse but with a kind heart. A friendship that will open up a new world where perversions, incest, homosexuality, love, and death intertwine indissolubly....
In 1990 Bigas Luna, who boasted respectable films in his filmography such as "They Called Her Bilbao," "Lola," "Anguish," decided to bring the controversial novel by Grandes Almudena to the screen, a work halfway between a diary rich in female psychology and a coming-of-age novel in a red-light district, so raw it almost seems "pulp." The conversion of the paper work is very faithful, given that the writer herself is involved in the subject and script, and with this film, Luna confirms himself as the dark side of Almodóvar, the director who doesn't stop at interpersonal relationships but seeks out the most unconfessable secrets and murky fantasies, with a great sense of drama and strongly pessimistic tones.
If in the book present and memory intertwine at different levels, the film analyzes the story in progression, showing us, with the necessary time jumps, the sexual growth and maturation of the protagonist (played by Francesca Neri), delving mainly into the second part of the story, when Lulù embarks on her journey of no return into the underworld of sex, from which she will only manage to exit thanks to the "deus ex machina" of the story near the cathartic ending.
Upon its release, the film immediately caused scandal in public opinion: there are many carnal congresses, but it was not this that made people shout indecency, but the atmosphere of perversion that pervades the film, starting with the narrative of a pedophile love without limits, then touching on group sex, orgy, incest, and sado-masochism. Bigas Luna's style is once again impactful: highly effective is the choice to narrate the story chromatically, transitioning from the pastel colors of childhood, to the warm and cold hues of couple's uncertainties, to a strong contrast between red lights and shadows.
There is a question mark regarding the chosen cast. Francesca Neri's performance in this film has always been borderline for me: physically, she perfectly embodies the provocative and innocent woman at the same time, always in alluring poses and with intriguing plays of glances; however, it is in the dialogues and reflection moments of the film that she doesn't deliver a strong performance. Her acting is lacking in impact, clumsy at times, erratic in others. There is little to say about the other actors, who were newcomers at the time and whose acting abilities are soon forgotten. Worth noting, however, is Javier Bardem, the director's protégé (also appearing in "Jamón, Jamón," "Golden Balls," "La teta y la luna") who plays the perverse and sadistic homosexual of a dark room, trying to convert his boy to a straight relationship and engaging in a series of perverse games like "choking" and "fist-fucking."
Three scenes to remember as the best: the pubic shaving with a brush and blade on the armchair (at the beginning of the film, full of sensuality), the sex among the moving plastic with Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" in the background, and the last 20 minutes of the film, claustrophobic and hard to endure.
In conclusion, a film with multiple facets, that flies low due to approximate acting, perhaps a bit too suggestive to the voyeur audience, but with directorial choices and styles of great impact.
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