''The Ages of Lulu'' () is a 1990 Spanish

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Bigas Luna José Juan Bigas Luna (19 March 1946 – 5 April 2013) was a Spanish film director, designer and artist. His films are typically characterised by a strong emphasis on the erotic film, erotic, often related to food, something for which he admitte ...

and starring Francesca Neri, Óscar Ladoire,

María Barranco María de los Remedios Barranco García (born 11 June 1961) better known as María Barranco is a Spanish actress, who has won two Goya Awards for Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actress. Biography María de los Remedios ...

and

Javier Bardem Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In a career spanning over three decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, tw ...

in his film debut. It is based on the novel of the same name by

Almudena Grandes María de la Almudena Grandes Hernández (7 May 1960 – 27 November 2021) was a Spanish writer. Author of 14 novels and three short-story collections, her work has been translated into twenty languages and frequently adapted to film. She won t ...

. The film is about the title character's life and sexual awakening in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, which leads to her involvement in increasingly dangerous sexual experimentation.

Plot

The fifteen-year-old Lulú is seduced by Pablo, her brother Marcelo's best friend, who then leaves to work in the United States. Lulú is sustained for years by the belief that Pablo will come back into her life. When he returns he proposes to her and they are married. Pablo and Lulú have a passionate relationship, developing a taste for sexual games. On one nocturnal expedition they join up with a transgender prostitute called Ely who becomes their friend. The couple have a daughter, Ines. Pablo convinces Lulú to participate blindfolded in a threesome; when Lulú discovers that the third person was Marcelo, her brother, she leaves Pablo in disgust, taking their daughter with her. However, her own desire to play increasingly dangerous sex games now comes to consume her. After becoming aroused watching a gay porn movie, she seeks out gay men and pays them to join in orgies, or watch them having sex. Unable to pay enough to satisfy her desires, she meets a pimp called Remy who runs a secret S&M club. Ely tries to warn Lulú that Remy is dangerous, but Lulú ignores her, so Ely goes to warn Pablo. Remy tells Lulú to go to a club, where she is tied up by Jimmy, a gay man she had previously paid for sex. She is forced to endure violent sex while gagged and bound. Ely tells Pablo that Lulú is in danger. She goes to the club to rescue her, but is attacked by Jimmy and killed when her head hits a metal bar. Pablo calls the police, who arrest Jimmy and the others. Lulú and Pablo are reunited.

Cast

Production

The film is an adaptation of the international best-selling novel of the same name written by

. Ángela Molina, who was originally cast in the lead role, withdrew when she learned how explicit the sex scenes were to be.

has a small, uncredited role as a corrupt gay man, one of his first roles on screen. Neri is dubbed into Spanish by another actress. In an interview, Bigas Luna recalled the episode when Francesca Neri, due to script requirements, was forced to shave her pubic hair and burst into tears before shooting one of the film's most scabrous scenes. He had to go and cheer her up and Neri, says Bigas Luna, "opened her bathrobe and shot her sex in my eyes and said to me, crying: 'Bigas, I'm sick, I look ugly, hideous'".

Cuts in UK version

The film was cut in the UK by two minutes and 55 seconds by the

BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works (su ...

. These cuts include an S&M orgy at a gay club being shortened, a man sexually touching Lulu, and a sex scene; these scenes were restored for the 2002 DVD release. In addition to these cuts an opening scene in which Lulu is

baptised Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

as a baby was cut as the child's genitalia is exposed to the camera; this shot is considered to be in breach of the

Protection of Children Act 1978 The Protection of Children Act 1978 (c. 37) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that criminalized indecent photographs of children. The act applies in England and Wales. Similar provision for Scotland is contained in the Civic Go ...

. The 2002 UK DVD required 1:15 of cuts for the baptism scene; a new title sequence was used instead.

Reception

''The Ages of Lulu'' was listed on Film4's 50 Sexiest Film Moments.

won the

Goya Award The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...

as Best Supporting Actress for her role as a

transsexual A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (incl ...

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

Home Media

''The Ages of Lulu'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

by Umbrella Entertainment in December 2011. The DVD is compatible with region code 4.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ages Of Lulu, The 1990s Spanish-language films Spanish erotic drama films 1990 films 1990 LGBTQ-related films 1990s erotic drama films Films set in Madrid Films about sibling incest Spanish LGBTQ-related films Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Goya Award–winning performance Films directed by Bigas Luna Films about trans women 1990s LGBTQ-related drama films 1990 drama films Films based on Spanish novels 1990s Spanish films