Tristana

Based on a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920) and directed by Luis Buñuel, this film was nominated to the Oscar for the Best Original Screenplay. Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) is a young orphan left to the care of Don Lope (Fernando Rey), the protective but impoverished aristocrat. Don Lope takes charge of her, taking her to live in his house, where he soon seduces her and makes her his mistress. He takes advantage of the vulnerable Tristana, who leaves him when she falls in love with Horacio (Franco Nero), a young and attractive painter with whom she leaves the city. But, unable to commit to him and due to an illness that caused the amputation of Tristana's leg, she is forced to return to Don Lope, who marries her. 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.