Les vies de Loulou

How the hell did the great actor Javier Bardem agree to work in this piece of garbage. He is in a couple of graphic sex scenes with bothe men and women.

Francesca Neri is beautiful and plays the title character Lulu from the age of fifteen(Neri was twenty-five) when she hooks up with a much older friend of her brother and within the first ten minutes, Pablo has her sitting in a chair while he proceeds to shave her private area with a razor. I am astounded that this was released as a mainstream film.

The pair are constantly in heat and Lulu gives birth to a daughter. Pablo has a threesome and Lulu leaves and becomes fascinated by the sex lives of gay men and joins in their couplings.

Please avoid this trash.

Bigas Luna's adaptation of Almudena Grandes' provocative novel arrives with visual flair but struggles to transform literary sensuality into compelling cinema. The film's atmosphere oscillates between Madrid's sun-drenched streets and shadowy underground spaces, creating a visual dichotomy that mirrors its protagonist's journey from innocence to experience. Luna's camera work captures intimate moments with a voyeuristic intensity, though the cinematography occasionally feels more calculated than organic, particularly during the film's more explicit sequences.

The cast delivers uneven performances across the board. Francesca Neri brings a magnetic presence to the titular Lulú, embodying both vulnerability and awakening desire with natural charisma. Her performance anchors the film's emotional core, even when the script veers into melodramatic territory. Óscar Ladoire as Pablo provides adequate support as the older lover who initiates Lulú's sexual awakening, though his portrayal lacks the complexity needed to make their relationship truly compelling. The supporting cast, including a young Javier Bardem in his film debut, offers glimpses of talent that would later flourish, but here serves more as atmospheric texture than substantial character development.

Luna's direction shows ambition in tackling themes of sexual liberation and self-discovery, yet the execution feels uneven. The film's pacing drags during certain sequences while rushing through others that deserve more contemplation. The explicit content, while integral to the story's exploration of female sexuality, sometimes feels gratuitous rather than genuinely revealing of character or theme. The movie's attempt to balance art house sensibilities with mainstream appeal results in a work that satisfies neither camp completely.

The production design effectively captures early 1990s Madrid, with locations ranging from bourgeois apartments to seedy nightclubs creating a believable world for Lulú's transformation. However, the film's exploration of dangerous sexual territory feels more sensationalist than psychologically truthful, undermining its pretensions toward serious drama about female empowerment and sexual agency.

As some films those has been a dime for cinephiles here another nugget to pin as favourite on the board. The actors very keenly learned acting and staged it with a good practice of reading. Yeah they nailed it.

I have been shocked and stunned by saw "Love (2015)" by Gaspar noe and thought he was the first to break the laws of film certifications but now I'm struct between the melodies and cinematography in this film. I even said to myself that "we found father of noe"

This must be one of the inspiration for Gaspar. It's obvious. And in 1990's period oh my god I couldn't think how mature the writers and the Director was.

Plus I donno why it got so low rating for a monumental modern script. Well if it would be screen now I'm solid this would reach every laptops on the movie lovers

This is the story of a woman through told pretty much through her sex life. As the film progresses we watch as her life goes from one of normalcy to one on the fringes of "normal" society, and its a course mirrored by her sex life. It is a very lurid film that pretty much covers every sexual subject you can think of, and probably some you can't. Its a well made movie that is so close to being an explicit film that one wonders why they didn't bother to go all the way and not shy away from showing it all. But its not really about the sex, since this is a smutty film that has the belief that its about something other than just showing hot sweaty sex. I'm not sure if thats true or not. Actually I'm not sure what I think of this film. frankly its one of those movies that you see and aren't enthused by, but which you find yourself haunted by none the less. There is something about the film that keeps me wondering if its not better than I think it is. Then again it maybe the desire to see the hot sweaty sex again (It really is steamy)

If you're not prudish and ready to deal with sex in all of its varieties then by all means dive in and give it a try. If you are offended by anything other than straight forward heterosexual sex, then stay away.

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.