#616 – That Obscure Object of Desire, (Cet obscur objet du désir), 1977, Luis Buñuel
After dumping a bucket of water on a beautiful young woman from the window of a train car, wealthy Frenchman Mathieu, regales his fellow passengers with the story of the dysfunctional relationship between himself and the young woman in question, a fiery 19-year-old flamenco dancer named Conchita. What follows is a tale of cruelty, depravity and lies – the very building blocks of love.
#641 – Chimes at Midnight, (Campanadas de medianoche), 1965, Orson Welles
The career of Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff as roistering companion to young Prince Hal, circa 1400-1413.
#686 – Tristana, 1970, Luis Buñuel
Tristana is a young Spanish woman left to the care of Don Lope, a protective but impoverished aristocrat. Don sells his possessions to avoid manual labor and champions the causes of the dispossessed and downtrodden of society. He takes advantage of the vulnerable Tristana, who leaves him when she falls in love with Horacio. Unable to commit to him, she returns to Don Lope when she falls ill. He asks for her hand in marriage, and she accepts after losing her leg to cancer. She chooses to remain in a passionless union rather than be subject to the harsh realities of a society that refuses to change to the needs of women. Taken from the novel by celebrated author Benito Perez Galdos.
#701 – La Ciénaga, 2001, Lucrecia Martel
Chekhov in contemporary Argentina. Mecha and Gregorio are at their rundown country place near La Ciénaga with their teen children. It’s hot. The adults drink constantly; Mecha cuts herself, engendering a trip to the hospital and a visit from her son José. A cousin, Tali, brings her children. The kids are on their own, sunbathing by the filthy pool, dancing in town, running in the hills with shotguns, driving cars without licenses. One of the teen girls loves Isabel, a family servant constantly accused of stealing. Mother and son, son and sisters, teen and Isabel are in each other’s beds and bathrooms with a creepy intimacy. With no adults paying attention, who’s at risk?
#710 – Cría cuervos…, 1976, Carlos Saura
In Madrid, the orphan sisters Irene, Ana and Maite are raised by their austere aunt Paulina together with their mute and crippled grandmother after the death of their mother and their military father Anselmo. Ana is a melancholic girl, fascinated by death, after seeing her mother having a painful death and her father dead in bed.
#720 – Sexy Beast, 2000, Jonathan Glazer
The idyllic life of retired safecracker Gal is put at risk when a psychotic gangster from his past arrives at his villa in southern Spain, intent on bringing him out of retirement for one last job.
#761 – Blue Is the Warmest Color, (La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2), 2013, Abdellatif Kechiche
Adèle’s life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
#905 – The Others, 2001, Alejandro Amenábar
Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.
#914 – [REC], 2007, Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
#961 – The Skin I Love In, (La piel que habito), 2011, Pedro Almodóvar
A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 