New York State Writers Institute - Classic Film Series

Tristana OCTOBER 17, 2003 (Friday) at 7:30 p.m. Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue (Free and Open to the Public) (France/Italy/Spain, 1970, 95 minutes, color, 35mm) Directed by Luis Buñuel Starring Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero, Jesus Fernandez, Lola Gaos

Set in Toledo, Spain in the 1920s, Bu�uel's masterful, comic and often erotic study of perversion, hypocrisy and disease explores the twisted relationship between Tristana and her guardian, Don Lope, who takes her in after her mother's death. Lope, an aging libertine who maintains a public image of piety while privately indulging his every desire, finds himself so deeply aroused by the beautiful young Tristana that he cannot resist seducing her. The Catholic hierarchy ignores what Lope has done to her, and preaches obedience to his teachings, causing Tristana to become enraged and begin plotting her revenge. TRISTANA received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.