Tristana (1970) User Reviews

The bell clapper.

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 3 July 2005]

It was the second time Bunuel had directed Deneuve and she was probably never better than when she was directed by the master.

Like Juan Bardem's unfairly forgotten "calle mayor" ,"Tristana depicts a small Spanish town still entangled in religion.But the times are changing.Don Lope (Rey) has become an hedonist and he tells us that it's Mosis who made sex a sin.Tristana is his ward,but as she confesses it to the painter,"I'm his daughter and his wife" .

Tristana is perhaps Bunuel's most complex woman.The physical metamorphosis of Deneuve is stunning.From the virgin who puts her hair in braids to the bitchy one-legged woman ,she runs the whole gamut.She refuses marriage because it kills love,and when she finally becomes Lope's wife,she uses it as a way of humiliating and frustrating her old husband whom she despises .The noise in the corridor as Tristana walks on her crutches while Lope is sipping hot chocolate with his friends (priests) shows frustration as nobody but Bunuel can.

The dream,(Rey as a bell clapper),which will remain "Tristana"'s most famous scene, will puzzle the audience.The first time it had appeared ,I did not think at all it was a dream.Bunuel will take this technique to its absolute limits in "discreet charm of the bourgeoisie",his following work .

We find back some of Bunuel's permanent features in "Tristana" :Lope,full of jealousy and locking up his ward, is a distant cousin of the hero of "El" ;the deaf and dumb boy ,some kind of brother of Maria in "la mort en ce jardin";The old man who sees his youth slip away was already in "Viridiana" (Fernando Rey again);fetishism ;exhibitionism :in a memorable scene,Tristana ,who refuses to give herself to her future husband (the wedding scene follows the exhibitionist one)shows her magnificent body to the deaf and dumb boy,an outcast,the scum of the earth ,derisively.

Recommended,as anything Bunuel did.

Morbid Tale of Lost of Innocence

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 29 June 2012]

In the 30's, in Spain, the teenager Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) becomes an orphan when her mother, who is the servant of Don Lope (Fernando Rey), dies. Don Lope is a decadent but respected aristocrat, anticlerical and liberal with socialist principles, and he becomes the guardian of Tristana. Don Lope sexually abuses of Tristana and develops a strange lover/father relationship with her.

When Tristana meets the painter Horacio (Franco Nero), they fall in love with each other and Tristana flees from Don Lope. However, years later, Horacio brings Tristana back to Don Lope with a terminal disease on her leg. She has a severed leg and survives, and Don Lope asks her hand in marriage. She accepts but now Tristana is a bitter and cynical woman and Don Lope feels the consequence of his acts in the past.

"Tristana" is a morbid tale of lost of innocence by Luis Buñuel. I had seen this film for the last time on 05 Feb 2003 and despite the wonderful performances of Catherine Deneuve and Fernando Rey, it is not among my favorite Buñuel's films. As usual, the director criticizes the Church and the bourgeois class but his famous surrealism is only presented in Tristana's nightmare. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Tristana"

Not the best Buñuel, but still very good

[Imdbidia · 7/10 · 13 February 2011]

Tristana is a Buñuel's film based on Benito Perez Galdos' realist novel of the same title, what Spaniards call a "novela costumbrista", that is, an epoch novel that focus on real local customs, social types and atmosphere.

It tells the story of Tristana, a 19y.o. orphan girl, who moves to the house of her legal guardian, Don Lope, a socialist bourgeois womanizer, who becomes not only her father, but also her lover-husband.

The way Buñuel shot the movie is not especially daring or original within Spanish cinema, and, despite what some people say, there is not surrealism in this movie, just some oniric images - two very different things that people mix too often. What makes the movie so interesting is not the realist way in which depicts 19th Spanish society (there are many movies of this sort in Spanish cinema), but how Buñuel approaches and modifies the story to bring out Tristana's dark side. The movie ends exploring the boundaries and limits of the economical, social, and gender orders, and, more importantly, the boundaries between good and evil. The story also shows the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, that preaches Socialist ideas and criticize wealth and the social order, despite them being wealthy, being part of that system and direct beneficiaries of the order they criticize.

In fact, in Tristana nothing is what it looks like, everything has two sides, there is not good and evil, but good-and-evil. The viewer starts despising and hating that indecent abuser of Don Lope, for his social hypocrisy and his sexual behavior, forgetting that young Tristana, despite despising him, does not oppose or resist his sexual advances, and lives like a princess from his money being as hypocrite as her master. A little intermezzo contains her meeting, love story, and escape with young bohemian painter Horacio. The viewer feels that this should be the end of the movie, the poor girl rescued by pure love. Mistake! - The second part of the movie, shows Tristana's true nature. She is sick and misses Don Lope and his wealth, so she leaves her lover and returns to Don Lope's house, and even marries him; he becomes her carer and dutiful husband. If Don Lope is a monster and treated her so badly why would she want to return to his place? She has soaked in all the preaching of his father-husband and uses them against him; she becomes the tyrant, the intolerant, the abuser, and the one that takes advantage of the old tamed Don Lope, who changes his behavior and customs to suit Tristana's needs and whims. Tristana ends being Don Lope's mirror image in reverse, a product of his teachings, but also a more wicked human being only interested in money, power, and revenge. The viewer ends thinking that nothing is what it looked like, and that both Don Lope and Tristana are connected to the core, identical in a way, evil both of them.

As always, Buñuel is a master at directing actors and creating an homogeneous ensemble of a group of big movie stars. Fernando Rey really nails his role, and offers a convincing range of emotions and behavior, from father to jealous father, from stallion to grandpa, from an open-minded intellectual to a petty tyrant, from funny guy to a jerk. Catherine Denueve is great in a role that suited her acting abilities, and her cold beauty is perfect for Tristana. Lola Gaos is great, as always, in her role of submissive hard-working servant, hard and sweet at the same time. The rest of the cast, which includes Franco Nero, Antonio Casas, and Jesus Fernandez, among many other supporting actors, are also good in their respective roles.

Not the best or most experimental Buñuel's movie, but very intriguing, with terrific performances, that offers an accurate portrait of Spain in the 19th century and explores controversial philosophical themes.

Great Bunuel

[danielhsf · 12 May 2005]

I can't say I know Luis Bunuel's style well, since I've not seen many of his works, and those that I've seen usually just struck me as blah. But then yesterday I saw Tristana which starred Catherine Deneuve and was awe-struck by it. See, the comments that I've read online about it have seem to have the focus all wrong, they are more interested in commenting on Bunuel's usual attack on the bourgeois and catholicism. Yes it is dark and in some places rather surreal, but above all, Tristana is a simple and sad story about its characters as they grapple with life, love, loss and regret. It is especially well-crafted with its sinewed study of human relationships, and humans that desperately try to relate with each other.

Tristana, played brilliantly by Catherine Denueve, is the central character whom we see evolve from an innocent young girl with her many ideals about love and relationship, to a bitter and cynical woman at the film's end who cannot believe in anything any longer. It is with special finesse that Deneuve plays her, that we witness, with heartbreak, every turn of her back on the things she love, and every rejection of all morality that she held before.

Fernando Rey's character is probably the murkiest but ultimately most empathetic character, as at the end of the film, age wears off his hard-edged cynicism and turns him into the loving father figure that Tristana desperately needed in the beginning of the film. In a sense, it is a film about age, how when we reach a certain point in our lives we see things much clearer and as it is, rather than try to twist things to our advantage. The way Rey's character treasures the time with the vile and vindictive Tristana at the end of the film is not only overwhelmingly sad, but also an epiphany by an auteur who is gaining age himself.

In spite of all its dramatic turns of events, Tristana is not an emotional and angsty film in its portrayal of its characters' lives. Instead it is a soft and peaceful film that sympathetically accepts its characters' flaws as much as it forgives them. It is a film that evokes the intricate feeling of looking back in our dark and troubled past and finding the exquisite moments of happiness amidst all the cynicism and grit. When, towards the end, Rey reaches the peace that he has been struggling so hard to attain throughout the film, he notes, 'It's snowing so hard outside, but in this house, I'm nice and warm. What's there not to be happy about?'. A silent recognition that peace is not bending reality to your own will, but merely, acceptance.

Brilliant film illustrating power struggles

[mooning_out_the_window · 10/10 · 2 January 2007]

I don't want to talk too much about the style of the film, as other comments do this fairly well. However to briefly surmise them: there is no non-diegetic music, it is in colour but grainy (looks good, don't let this put you off), contains surrealist imagery as do all of Bunuel's films, and the lighting and the cinematography are sublime. I can rave about the brilliance of the technical aspects of the film, but to some it is the story content and themes that are the main focus, so I will talk about this.

The film sees a young orphan taken in by one of her mother's past lovers. Played by Fernando Rey, very well I might add - though this is an understatement. Catherine Deneuve plays the title character to perfection. The orphan becomes both the 'daughter' and lover of Don Lope, Rey's character, and it is the change in power from Don Lope to Tristana that is one of the central themes of the film. In order for Tristana to get freedom she must pay the price of losing her innocence.

Bunuel uses many scenes to show this, such as the balcony scene where Tristana reveals her naked self to her watchful deaf mute servant and childhood friend Saturno. Bunuel also edits this shot with an extended shot of the virgin Mary, and the comparisons are obvious.

The film is very enjoyable, yet still deals with issues such as sexual freedom, power, anti-clericism and anti-bourgeois values amongst others.

The film is not Bunuel's most surreal work, however it still contains the themes and images typical of him. The acting is brilliant, no more so than the leads of Deneuve and Rey. Tristana could be seen as the sister of Severine in Belle De Jour, also played by Deneuve.

Certainly worthy of being in the top ten films of all time. Brilliant!

melodrama lifted up into perverse tragedy as only Bunuel can do

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 3 August 2008]

It might appear to the uninitiated that Luis Bunuel is making with Tristana at first a good but very predictable melodrama that turns somewhere in the second half mark into a strange power-play of desire turned on its head. But in reality, when looking at it after seeing a couple of his films, Bunuel's work with Tristana is somehow kind of touching. He cares about all of his characters- none of whom what they seem or dumbed down to Lifetime movie levels- and in this stuck-in-its-ways society there are boundaries that are crossed in tragic means. Usually one might expect some dark or subtle comedy of manners or satire on society, but here it's stripped away, as it was for some of Viridiana, and all that's left is a spare, tense and expertly manipulated tale where the tables are turned once or twice on the couple of Don Lope (Fernando Rey) and Tristana (Catherine Deneauve, maybe her most physically demanding of her two Bunuel roles).

One thing that's extraordinary about how Bunuel directs and allows for his actors to play the scenes is that the emotions are only heightened to a certain level, and never with the aid of things like music or tears. It is what it is: Don Lope has taken care of Tristana as her guardian since her mother died, and now has inserted himself as her father/husband figure, with his servant Saturna (stern-faced but understanding Lola Gaos) a kind of unofficial confessional. Tristana wants some freedom, just to go out and walk around, and feels caught by Don Lope even when not doing anything... until she meets Franco Nero's Don Horacio, a painter who could promise a new life. This goes without saying that one should take it for granted that Tristana isn't *that* young and could take care of herself without Lope, but maybe this is part of the point of the slight absurdity- and eventual tragedy- of this struggle.

Two years go by after she leaves Lope for Horacio, with a tumor in her leg. She's now a cripple, and now once again a kind of mental prisoner in Lope's home; the complexity of old man Lope as being duplicitous is seen right after he finds out she's sick and Horacio asks for Lope to help keep her home, and he nearly skips home saying "she'll never leave again!" All of this, leading up to a final twist that is very satisfying if extending the tragic dimension of Lope and Tristana, would be soapy and tawdry and, possibly, very standard in other hands. For Bunuel, there's a lot of personal ground here; I wonder at times if Rey is a little like one of those actors a director of Bunuel's auteur-stature uses as a means of expressing himself through an actor, or if it's just because he's so good at playing wicked AND sympathetic bourgeois. And the mixture of ideas, if not really themes, covering what's love and over-control, religion, deformity, a free will are potent and exciting even in such subtle and (as Maltin said) serenely filmed territory.

It's also a minor triumph for Deneuve, who between this and Belle de jour did some of her best work as an actress for the notorious surrealist. Her character's continual dream of Lope's beheaded top dangling from a church tower is the closest we see to a classic surrealist scene, though it's reminiscent of Los Olvidados as brilliantly expressing one character's mind-set. Deneuve is up for the challenge of putting up a tough interior and exterior presence; she gets paler towards the end (if this was for real or just a bad print I couldn't tell), and there's a lot of pain in her eyes and expression throughout. It's great work for one of the director's most subtly demanding works- beneath its conventional framework of a love-triangle story is sorrow and horror at the human condition.

Dramatic film about a strange relationship , being splendidly directed by the Spanish maestro of surrealism , the great Luis Buñuel

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 20 September 2014]

When the young woman Tristana (Catherine Deneuve)'s mother dies, she is entrusted to the guardianship of the well-respected though old Don Lope (Fernando Rey) being served by the old maid (Lola Gaos) . There she is besieged as emotionally as sexually to be his lover . Don Lope is more than 60 years, single, liberal and anticlerical and natural inclination to idleness and indolence . Then Tristana meets the painter Horacio (Franco Nero) , they fall in love with each other and Tristana flees from Don Lope who faces competition from her suitor .

This is the sensuous story of Tristana , a drama with surrealism and sour portrait upon social classes , catholicism , sexual abuses and many other things , being stunningly realized by the Spanish maestro of surrealism , the great Luis Buñuel . This is a typical Buñuel film , as there are a lot of symbolism , social critique , including mockery or wholesale review upon religion , especially Catholicism . Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both subversive behavior and religion , issues well shown in a lot of films and that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career . Here Bunuel gives a perverse studio about religion , old age , desire along with deformity ; and was strongly cut by Spanish censorship . The film describes unequal status of women , heir to a long tradition of marginalization, subjugation, exploitation and lack of rights , subsequently suffragists and protest movements emerge in pro-women . Interesting and thought-provoking screenplay from the same Luis Buñuel and Julio Alejandro , Buñuel's usual screenwriter , based on the novel by Benito Pérez Galdós ; they pull off a straight-faced treatment of shocking subject matter . Bunuel's adaptation retains the spirit of protest written by Galdos, and moved to a later time in 40 years to the novel . Nice acting by Fernando Rey as an old man who falls for the innocent girl in his charge , to the point of result to be perhaps the best performance of his long career . Rey played various Buñuel films such as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie , That Obscure object of Desire and Viridiana . And Catherine Deneuve's finest most enigmatic acting as a young cynical woman who goes to live with her guardian and subsequently turned into a bitter incapacitated cripple . The film relies heavily on the relationship between them , as is developed a rare lover/father relationship with her . One of Bunuel's most serious and serene ¨Tristana¨ is packed with surreal moments , criticism , absurd situations , masochism and nightmares . Furthermore , Buñuel satirizes and he carries out outright critical to aristocracy , bourgeoisie and attack upon religion . Pretty good support cast gives fine acting ; it is mostly formed by nice Spanish actors such as Antonio Casas , Fernando Cebrian, Jose Maria Caffarel , Antonio Ferrandis , Jose Calvo , Sergio Mendizabal , Juanjo Menendez ,among others . Beautifully shot in Toledo with a splendid cinematography by Jose Aguayo . Tristana was voted tenth best Spanish film by professionals and critics in 1996 Spanish cinema centenary and nominated for an Oscar ,film Foreign Language.

Thid wry and dramatic motion picture was compellingly directed by Luis Buñuel who was voted the 14th Greatest Director of all time . This Buñuel's strange film belongs to his French second period ; in fact , it's plenty of known Spanish actors . Born in Calanda , Aragon (1900) , Buñuel subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the university there, where his close friends included Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca. After moving to Paris , at the beginning Buñuel did a variety of film-related odd jobs , including working as an assistant to director Jean Epstein . With financial help from his mother and creative assistance from Dalí, he made his first film , this 17-minute "Un Chien Andalou" (1929), and immediately catapulted himself into film history thanks to its disturbing images and surrealist plot . The following year , sponsored by wealthy art patrons, he made his first picture , the scabrous witty and violent "Age of Gold" (1930), which mercilessly attacked the church and the middle classes, themes that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career . That career, though, seemed almost over by the mid-1930s, as he found work increasingly hard to come by and after the Spanish Civil War , where he made ¨Las Hurdes¨ , as Luis emigrated to the US where he worked for the Museum of Modern Art and as a film dubber for Warner Bros . He subsequently went on his Mexican period he teamed up with producer Óscar Dancigers and after a couple of unmemorable efforts shot back to international attention with the lacerating study of Mexican street urchins in ¨Los Olvidados¨ (1950), winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. But despite this new-found acclaim, Buñuel spent much of the next decade working on a variety of ultra-low-budget films, few of which made much impact outside Spanish-speaking countries , though many of them are well worth seeking out . As he went on filming "The Great Madcap" , ¨The brute¨, "Wuthering Heights", ¨El¨ , "The Criminal Life of Archibaldo De la Cruz" , ¨Robinson Crusoe¨ , ¨Death in the garden¨ and many others . After returning his native country, Spain, by making ¨Viridiana¨ this film was prohibited on the grounds of blasphemy as well as ¨The milky way¨ or Via Lactea , both of them were strongly prohibited by Spanish censorship . This French-Spanish final period in collaboration with producer Serge Silberman and writer Jean-Claude Carrière with notorious as well as polemic films such as ¨Viridiana¨ , ¨The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" and ¨Belle De Jour¨. His last one was the notorious ¨That obscure object of desire¨ (1977) .

A brilliant dissection of moral degradation as only Bunuel could make it.

[Galina_movie_fan · 9/10 · 17 March 2007]

Sometimes hilarious, often dream like surreal drama tells about a young woman, heavenly beautiful and innocent in the beginning, bitter and pitiless but still heavenly beautiful sans one leg in the end. Catherine Deneuve gave perhaps her best performance as an orphaned 19 years old girl who after her mother's death has been adapted by the aristocratic free-thinking atheist, Don Lope Garrido in absolutely fantastic performance by Bunuel's favorite leading man in the latter half of the director's career, Fernando Rey (That Obscure Object of Desire, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Tristana, Viridiana). Don Lope is a man of honor, a gentleman who believes in those of ten commandments that don't have to do with sex. He also takes pride in having not worked a day in his life because the only work is noble that is done "with pleasure". He rather would sell for a fraction of their real cost the pieces of art that had belonged to his family for generations. This is the man Tristana comes to live with. Very soon he would seduce her and make her his mistress justifying it with the words that she is better off this way than being on the streets. Don Lope is a preacher of freedom in the relationships between a man and a woman and for him, "marital bliss has sickly odor". Young Tristana is a good student and eventually she chooses to leave Don Lope and to run off with a young and attractive artist (Franco Nero). From this point on, the movie takes an unexpected and unusual turn...

"Tristana", based on a famous romance novel written by Benito Perez Galdos was adapted by Bunuel into simple on the surface but incredibly rich, complex, funny, in one word, brilliant dissection of moral degradation as only Bunuel could make it. The film is also a portrayal of a strong and beautiful woman who wishes to survive and be independent even if it goes against the established rules of behavior of her time.

P.S. I wonder if Rainer Werner Fassbinder had seen "Tristana" and if he had, would it give him any ideas about his own trilogy of strong, beautiful, independent, and corrupted women trying to survive in the post-war Germany?

For viewers 'Tristana' might be an important film but it lacks criticism and sharpness for which Luis Buñuel was famous.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 6/10 · 29 September 2014]

It is true that Spanish film 'Tristana' is considered an important work in the cinematographic career of Luis Buñuel. It has all the necessary ingredients to make it extremely appealing to viewers namely an excellent cast of versatile actors: Fernando Rey and Catherine Deneuve. For making it, Buñuel chose to adapt realist novelist Benito Perez Galdoz's eponymous novel. However, despite all these strong points, Tristana lacks the criticism and sharpness which one finds in most films made by Buñuel especially films in which he has made mockery of organized religion and its practices. Tristana does not succeed much as it appears as a plain drama. The sad thing is that criticism of Spanish nobility and its members' lifestyle is missing from this film. What viewers get to see are a series of dramatic situations which unroll in quick succession. This is one reason why even no commentary has been made about the role of freedom for Spanish women who wanted to get rid of dominating male influence in their lives. This is strange as it was something which Buñuel wanted to portray in his film.

Yet another Buñuel masterpiece.

[colin-cooper · 10/10 · 23 October 2005]

Luis Buñuel had a mastery of screen technique attained by very few directors. Confronted by the script of Tristana, what contemporary director would know where to start?

Buñuel's attention to detail is extraordinary. Every scene is packed with visual interest. In some strange way, the decor forms an essential part of the structure; it is a facet of Buñuel's unique vision. Moreover, he not only knows exactly when to end a sequence, but how to end it. For instance, when Don Lope (Rey) puts down the dog and walks away, the camera follows not him but the dog: an endearing and brilliant touch, and there are many more. Compelling throughout, even spellbinding.

If this film were a framed picture hanging in a gallery, thousands would come to see it and Buñuel would be acclaimed as a great artist. He was a great artist, in fact, but the cinema is an ephemeral form and people forget. We need to buy the videos and watch these fine movies from time to time, just to remind ourselves that a film can be a significant art form and not merely a commercial product cynically synthesised to extract the largest amount of money from the greatest number of people.

Triumphant?

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 29 January 2016]

When the young woman Tristana's mother dies, she is entrusted to the guardianship of the well-respected though old Don Lope. Don Lope is well-liked and well-known because of his honorable nature, despite his socialistic views about business and religion. But Don Lope's one weakness is women, and he falls for the innocent girl in his charge, seduces her, makes her his lover, though all the while explaining to her that she is as free as he.

Buñuel's French investors insisted that Catherine Deneuve be cast as Tristana and his Italian investors wanted young heartthrob Franco Nero to play Horacio. Filming began in September 1969. Actress Vanessa Redgrave was often on the film's set after recently divorcing Tony Richardson for Nero, which caused Nero to often be late or distracted during filming.

Although I applaud the casting, I am still not convinced that I like Bunuel's later films. He stopped being outright surreal and got more subtle, which I do not care for. He also became far more political, which I am not necessarily oppose to, but I think takes away from the art. I will definitely have to revisit him again at some point, but I feel like he may be given too much credit.

Very Well-done Bunuel Film

[boltinghouc2 · 9/10 · 10 January 2001]

A cinematic masterpiece, Bunuel's Tristana works on many layers, and can be enjoyed at face-value, as a dark romance, or as a scathing social criticism of pre/post World War II Spain. The latter interpretation is rather difficult to digest with just one viewing, but its allegories of Tristana and Don Lope as fascism and socialism present a richly disguised history of the Spanish Civil War and Spain's constant struggle between the socialist and the fascist. As is typical of Bunuel's work, his characteristic criticism of the Church as well as bourgeoisie lifestyles also presents itself in Tristana, however not as markedly as in such features as L'Age D'Or or The Discreet Charm.

Innocence Corrupted.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 12 August 2013]

Except for an early flirtation with surrealism, most of Bunuel's movies deal with the loss of innocence and a subsequent outrageous cynicism. This one isn't much different. The innocent Deneuve is entrusted to her guardian, Fernando Rey, an honorable man whose weakness is women. Understandably, he can't keep his gnarled and lecherous old hands off his stunningly beautiful ward. And Deneuve does what she's told, like a compliant pet.

Not that Rey is a monster. He's stern, but he has friends he jokes with in the café, he dresses impeccably when he leaves home, and is thoroughly dignified. He hates having the flu because it renders him more human in appearance.

Deneuve meets the handsome young artist Franco Nero. These women are always meeting handsome and dashing younger men! But this one isn't the usual rogue because this is not Madame Bovary. Nero whisks her away, unmarried, and later returns to Rey's city, after Deneuve has developed cancer and lost a leg. The aging Rey now wants to marry his ex ward, but she's become a tough nut to crack.

Deneuve isn't as glamorous here as she is in some other feature, as in Roman Polanski's "Repulsion", for instance, where her features were framed by a mane of lustrous blond hair. Her hair is dark here, and tied back severely, giving her face a dished appearance. But she's as "mysterious" as ever.

It's always hard to tell exactly what she's thinking. Partly, this is because she's not a very expressive actress, and partly because her eyes are usually set at "wide open." I have a feeling that if an ophthalmologist could creep up to her, nose to nose, which is a pleasant enough thought, and peer through her pupil, once he got past all the defensive red reflexes he'd see a slot machine with four windows, always spinning, never stopping, the oranges, apples, cherries, and lemons whirling past.

As the passionate and determined boy friend, Franco Nero doesn't do much. But Fernando Rey, while hardly seeming to try, gives us a fully fleshed-out portrait of a man who is filled with old-fashioned courtliness (except for that thing about women) but suffers because he's losing his youth. For a long while, we watch him lovingly treating his graying beard before the mirror.

But it's a rather slow movie, despite the universal theme and the effective compositions. It could have used a bit of gratuitous nudity. After all, Deneuve has nothing to hide, as she demonstrated in Bunuel's fascinating "Belle de Jour" a few years earlier. Okay, give us the iconoclasm but can't they hand it out naked?

Dubbing and abrupt transitions ruin it

[peru1-595-630106 · 2/10 · 27 September 2013]

I must have watched a different movie than the reviewers who call this "the top movie of all time" a 10 plus and so forth.

First of all dubbing robs 90% of an actor's abilities and the two main characters are dubbed De Neuve and Fernando Rey..it sounds like a spaghetti western. Also the many times used theme of a Gigi like uncle who falls in love with his niece (charge in this case) is not shocking or particularly interesting. Zola used it in Dr. Pascal.

As another reviewer states this is a novel turned into a movie so all the changes that occur in DeNeuve seem too abrupt as they try to pack 300 pages into an hour and half. Suddenly Tristana is a bitter woman....from an innocent girl. Also please if this is a world quality movie why did the director use that tired old technique of showing the hands only when Tristana is playing the piano.

Also although very minor there were slip ups in the time editing...a modern car can be seen in the back ground of one of the scenes and the train lines were electrified.

I am sure the movie can be micro-analyzed for symbolism and visual cues..on the door of the apartment they live in is the faint white scrawl of a man's face and so forth (death?).I am sure it is flawless in this way...but as far a convincing as to why DeNeuve turns jaded it just doesn't work well---the dubbing and the abruptness mainly...

I did find the main character's hypocrisy good a socialist ordering glazed maroons and living the high life....although in a leftie directors eyes this may not have been intended to be hypocrisy but rather showing his sophistication. God knows that is quite possible.

I did not quite understand the deaf young men's symbolism. Didn't find it worth speculating on.

DO NOT RECOMMEND

A Love/ Hate Movie.

[nnad · 21 September 2000]

One of the better melodramas by Bunuel that stars Catherine Deneuve --Belle De Jour was the most successful. Tristana is the third installment to Bunuel's ill-fated heroine yarn: as we know, Viridiana and Belle De Jour were the first 2. Nevertheless, the film's not as surreal as these previous two films; however, Bunuel still maintains his use of dream sequences and familiar motifs. Rey is excellent as the lecherous uncle, and Deneuve is also good as the title character. Bunuel has definitely excelled in focusing on the aesthetic approach to a story-line; however, this respect can be overwhelming for some viewers, especially those who are more comfortable with the fast-paced American movies. In short, Tristana is still an excellent movie regardless of these unusual aspects.

Buñuel, the genius...

[rainking_es · 8/10 · 16 November 2006]

One of the latest works from the genius of Calanda, he was still stigmatized by Franco's dictatorship and he adapted a text by Benito Pérez Galdós about a young pretty girl (Catherine Deneuve) whose mother dies and has to go to live (and something else) with his stepfather (Fernando Rey).

"Tristana" contains many of the common factors of Buñuel's movies: his total contempt for the ruling sectors of society and the rich people, for hypocrisy and Puritanism; his irreverence, and a wicked and implicit sexual content. Only the man who made "Belle de Jour" would dare to amputate a leg to the goddess Deneuve (one of the most beautiful creatures that ever walked the earth). Fernando Rey plays a typical Spanish "hidalgo" that's come down in the world and that sexually harass his stepdaughter.

So, Buñuel not only hadn't lost his touch with the years, on the contrary, he felt more and more free as the time went by to let his genius flow… *My rate: 8/10

intensely sad but equally well-acted story of lust and corruption

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 14 July 2005]

This is not an easy film to watch and so I cannot recommend it to everyone. I involves the sick relationship between a young lady who is entrusted to the care of her guardian after the death of her parents. At first, this older man appears to be very strict and concerned about her virtue by keeping her away from young suiters. However, ultimately this supposed benevolence is exposed for hypocrisy when the old man begins making sexual overtures to his young ward. Ultimately, he rapes her (though he justified this to himself and clearly acted as if it was not rape) and ruins her life. However, over time, she becomes more bitter and cold--and this transition becomes so apparent and ironic at the film's conclusion.

Catherine Deneuve and Fernando Rey are both superb in the movie, as is the pacing, direction and cinematography. Depressing but exceptionally well-made.

puzzling

[buddylove447 · 6/10 · 1 February 2010]

Very good performances and somehow quite entrancing, i still cant fathom out what on earth this film is about. I think I've seen 5 or 6 films by bunuel and the same goes for all of them....surreal, puzzling...but fascinating. Very good performances and somehow quite entrancing, i still cant fathom out what on earth this film is about. I think I've seen 5 or 6 films by bunuel and the same goes for all of them....surreal, puzzling...but fascinating. Very good performances and somehow quite entrancing, i still cant fathom out what on earth this film is about. I think I've seen 5 or 6 films by bunuel and the same goes for all of them....surreal, puzzling...but fascinating.

One of Bunuel's finest films.

[MOscarbradley · 10/10 · 18 April 2019]

The perfect companion piece to "Viridiana". Bunuel's later "Tristana" is also about a virginal young girl, (a superb Catherine Deneuve), corrupted by an older man, (once again, the great Fernando Rey). Although she gives herself to him willingly, it's an act that makes her both bitter and vengeful but while "Viridiana" had a mordant streak of humor running through it, this is a much darker affair. It was adapted by Bunuel and Julio Alejandro from the Benito Perez Galdos novel and it remains one of the cruelest films about women that the cinema has given us.

Tristana is a complex character and one who is very difficult to empathize with. Was she ever a victim or was she always much more knowing than she first appears and, despite the tragedies that befall her, she is never sympathetic or likable. Both Deneuve and Rey are terrific; as Tristana's younger lover, Franco Nero is slightly less wooden than usual, which is a blessing of sorts and, at least, he never upsets the film's equilibrium. This may be an old man's film, stripped of all artifice but it remains one of its director's finest works.

Tristana

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 28 February 2014]

From director Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou, Land Without Bread, Belle De Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie), this Spanish film was another listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so it didn't matter that I knew nothing about it, I was going to watch it. Basically set in 1930's Spain, teenager Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) is orphaned after the death of her servant mother, she is adopted by her mother's master, elderly respected aristocrat Don Lope (Fernando Rey), despite having socialistic views about business and religion he is well known and liked by many. But the biggest weakness Don Lope has is for women, and despite being her trusted guardian he cannot help but fall in love with Tristana, to the point that he seduces her, and she becomes his lover, although it is much more sexual abuse of the innocent young woman, she is not completely aware of the implications as he often tells her she is free to do what she wants. A year or two later Tristana finds her own voice, demanding to study music, art and other subjects and wanting to become independent, and she one day meets young artist Horacio Díaz (Franco Nero), and she flees Toledo and her guardian with him as they have fallen in love. However Tristana is forced to return years later when she has a terminal disease on her leg, she is forced to have this leg amputated, but she survives the illness, and returning to Don Lope he asks for her hand in marriage which she accepts, but the change in her life has made her bitter, and Don Lope must live with the consequences of his actions towards his adoptive daughter. Also starring Lola Gaos as Saturna, Antonio Casas as Don Cosme, Jesús Fernández as Saturno and Vicente Soler as Don Ambrosio. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Deneuve gives a terrific chilling performance as the young woman who grows up with perhaps an alternative view on life and the ways of the world, and Rey is also terrific as the man who has done it to her and who you can have no pity for, it is an interesting story with a twisted relationship and the need to escape or get revenge for ruining a life, I admit it wasn't all that easy to follow on occasions, but all in all it is worthwhile period drama. Very good!

Masterpiece

[JasparLamarCrabb · 10/10 · 7 March 2008]

One of the great movies of the early '70s. Catherine Deneuve is the title character, left in the care of older Fernando Rey, an aristocrat fallen on hard times. Rey is a staunch socialist and unabashed liberal willing to give all to those less fortunate while being a cruel misogynist who lets his lurid intentions known to the innocent Deneuve and makes no apology for it. When Deneuve leaves him for young artist Franco Nero, Rey, true to character, berates her and challenges Nero to a duel! Bunuel's jarring film exposes the cruelties men and women lob at each other while at the same time appearing to be genuinely kind to the disenfranchised. It's a truly unsettling film with a mid-film twist that is particularly shocking. The acting is brilliant. Rey is more than just dependable. He embodies the old guard, an honorable man who scoffs at authority and power as he defends those with even less than himself. Deneuve solidifies her her status as not only one of the screen's great beauties, but a fine actress willing to use her looks to play not only flighty or distressed waifs, but really cruel characters as well (as Tristana becomes after fate hands her a horrifying blow).

Not a legendary movie, but another solid addition to Buñuel's body of work

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 9 May 2023]

"Tristana" is a co-production between France, Italy and Spain from 1970, so this film is now easily over half a century old. The three countries I just mentioned are really the ones that defined the career of writer and director Luis Buñuel, especially Spain and France. He won the Oscar a little later when representing France in the foreign language category, but with this film here he represented Spain and scored another nomination. We can say so, even if the nomination was not directly to his name, but this is really only due to Academy regulations. He was the big driving force by far behind this project. The film runs for slightly under 100 minutes, so not one of Buñuel's longest works, but also not one of his shortest. It was pretty much his standard runtime. Durations over two hours were not his thing. And there is more standard to Buñuel in this movie here: Fernando Rey once again plays the main character in a Buñuel movie and he does so with excellence as he always does. You can even call this film one of a trilogy almost (I have seen three films so far, the one with Bouquet, "Viridiana" and this one here, cannot rule out that there is more) that has Rey or I should say his characters pursue considerably younger women in a romantic fashion. There are films where his characters are miserable, also on the likable side here and there, but you will never find a movie where the girl of his interest is really interested in him too, which is of course a constant source of conflict. If an actor played such similar characters on repeated occasions now in the 21st century, probably many audience members would see the actor as creepy too at some point. Which is pretty sad, but this far it has become already. Anyway, Rey managed to score some really impressive awards attention for his portrayal here. The vast majority of attention here also came from Spanish awards bodies, which makes it really clear that this is a film that is as much of a Spanish production as it gets. Also makes sense if you look at the writers. Maybe the names Julio Alejandro and Benito Pérez Galdós will not sound familiar to you, but one was Buñuel's collaborator on the screenplay here and in general a highly prolific Spanish film writer and the other wrote the base material in the 19th century already and they are also both from Spain.

What maybe led people a bit away from the Spanish component is French actress Catherine Deneuve being first credit and playing the title character. She will turn 80 later this year. And the biggest male supporting player is Franco Nero, who originates from Italy and well he is a film icon in his own right too. Both him and Deneuve are still acting it seems. Impressive. Nero even appeared in a series called "Django" that takes him a bit back to his roots, but back to this film here now that we wanna talk about today: There are some pretty tough inclusions in here in terms of physical injury too, but it is nothing too unusual for Buñuel. The biggest one is of course Deneuve's character losing her leg to cancer. They literally say they need to cut it off and even then they can only hope for the best. But still seems her life is saved this way as she lives during the ending credits. The same cannot be said about Rey's character, but this is no big surprise really if you look at the foreshadowing on earlier occasions. Just take the title character's recurring nightmare about the man's severed head being used as part of a church bell. Now that was some bizarre and surrealist stuff. Buñuel in a nutshell. Also pay attention to how this kind of nightmare really shocks Tristana early on while she was not really particularly scared anymore later on. Or there was also this scene in which a dog gets shot because it has rabies or so. It was clear that one key character would die here and the longer the film went, the more obvious it became that it would not be the sick woman. The moment it happens is still haunting. We see the male lead have a heart attack or so and Tristana pretends that she is calling the doctor, but she really is not and wants to let him die. Then again, it would not have changed anything at all because he was already dead when she returns to his bedroom and no doctor could have been there fast enough to save him. It still says nothing too positive about the woman, even if she despises the man, but at that point probably all she wanted was get away from him. Remember how he comforted her when she had that nightmare and really did all he could that she would have a decent life after her surgery.

But of course there is the one aspect that really makes it difficult to like him as well, namely that he wants sexual pleasure in return from her and I am not even talking here about the aspect that he was her uncle. Biological I think even, even if I am not 100% sure there, but back then this was not such a big think and incest really only existed between siblings as a bit of a taboo or between parents and children. Everything beyond that was kinda tolerated and there is not even any talk in here that elaborates on this. What can also be said about his film here is that we do get a brief elaboration on the man's own family background that is also not super harmonic. We see that when his sister comes into play. Very briefly. Her death is more memorable than her presence here. But oh well, one thing that caught my attention were the looks of the characters and how they resembled other famous people. Maybe it was just me, but Nero for example looked a lot like a mix between Terence Hill and Ian Somerhalder it was I think. Lola Gaos, who was surely younger here than her character looked like reminded me of Senta Berger,, although I am sure that Gaos was the far more versatile actress, not that it needed much to be better than Berger. Oh yeah and Deneuve especially reminded me so much of Sarah Paulson here, like in almost every single scene. Maybe it was her slightly darker hair that also contributed to that, but the resemblance was striking and I was surprised myself that I never saw this before.

But anyway, Buñuel and Deneuve also worked together on (at least) one other film that is probably still much more known than this one here. I am of course talking about "Belle de Jour" and I watched that one also on another occasion not too long ago. But back to this one here that I saw as part of the Buñuel retrospective: I will just so dome brainstorming now for the rest of the review. Of course, the film is in color and there was one character named Saturna and another named Saturno, which initially confused me a bit because these two names are also not super common in Spain, at least nowadays, not sure what it was back then, but I do not know any celebrities or famous actors carrying this name in the 21st century. Or don't even know any from back then, so the male and female variation in the same movie came unexpected. Buñuel always enjoyed going for controversy and with somebody like Deneuve at his disposal, it would have been a huge surprise if he had not brough in sexuality there. There is still less, maybe even considerably less, than in his other films, but the scene in which she exposes herself in front of the boy there stayed in the mind. When she was on the balcony or at the window or what it was and at that point Nero's character had already left her. Because of her struggles with her health or what she turned into because of them and I am talking about her character there, not her physicality. It did something with her and even if she despises Rey's character, especially when he treats her with care, she says occasionally stuff about the old man that he is smart and right with a lot he says. Actually, she says that she really appreciates him as a father figure and wishes that this could have been all he wanted.

The two most important men in her life also have meetings that could not be any more different from each other. There is something like a physical altercation almost when Rey's character comes to the younger's place and there seems to be the possibility for a duel with guns between the two, but eventually it is not meant to happen. Another meeting then between the two is when the young man comes to ask the older man for help and there they are fairly harmonic as they both want Deneuve's character to get better. They do care for her, even if she despises them both at some point. Just look at Rey's character's words that he would be ready to gave one of his limbs to make her fully healthy again. Of course, this is not how biology and medicine work. The one thing this film never really is is a comedy. I am not even sure if there was one single occasion or two or none that had me smile, but there was nothing that truly made me laugh. If anything, then the humor may be in the subtlety, like when we have Rey's character sick and really struggling from influenza or whatever else he has there and of course he does not want Deneuve's character to see him as an ailing old man there, but of course she does. His comment about how young men would deal way worse with this illness and suffer far more obviously was a bit on the comedic side, but yeah you see I have to dig deep here for sure for remotely funny content like this. So I don't even keep trying. Overall, I am glad I went to see this movie and it was a decent watch, but I would not say it is among Buñuel's best and also certainly not among his worst. Maybe the color helped me here in appreciating this film enough for a positive recommendation, but in terms of female leads, I cannot rank Tristana ahead of Viridiana for example and absolutely not in front of Bouquet's aforementioned character. Or movie. Seeing "Tristana" is an alright choice, but once is enough and it also does not have to be at a movie theater. I still give the outcome a thumbs-up though, even if I would put the Yordle girl as well ahead of Deneuve. Anytime. Yordles rock!

Interesting story very well told.

[goodellaa · 8/10 · 5 March 2013]

Everything about this movie is excellent, unless you are looking for lots of special effects and dislike storytelling. Concerns a young lady who has become an orphan somewhere in Spain between the Great Wars who goes to live with an old bachelor. He rejects the mores of society and preaches freedom of thought and action to his friends but tends to be rather traditional and overbearing when it suits him. It pleases him to control his young ward and treat her like a wife. In time she meets an artist who she likes and things get more complicated. If you laugh, things are funny, if you are enraged or afraid for the characters, then it is drama. In this kind of slice-of-life movie you can pick and choose who to root for. Story flows beautifully like a good novel.

Poor pacing will put many a viewer off this film

[tonypeacock-1 · 6/10 · 11 May 2023]

When this film was released in 1970 Spain was still under the regime of Franco however its cinema was definitely epic as this film proves.

In a nutshell the film follows the story of a young Spanish girl Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) who we discover at the start has been adopted by her recently deceased mother's friend Don Lope (Fernando Rey). What begins as an apparent adopted father/daughter relationship we discover turns into a more sexual nature although this is not shown on screen. Tristana begins the film as a timid virgin. Don Lope is a typical miserable socialist who would rather live with the minimum of material possessions to fund a workshy lifestyle.

As the film develops Tristana breaks free from the hold of Lope and flees with lover Horacio (Franco Nero who some may recognise from Django and Django Unchained). However Tristana develops a serious illness and for some reason moves back in with Lope even taking the vow of marriage. She has her ill leg amputated and develops a sinister streak resulting in her inaction when Lope is dying.

What begins the film as a timid young girl is now a confident/vengeful woman. Director Luis Buñuel tells a good story of revenge in a world cinema (Spanish) setting. The film does not have the pacing of your average Hollywood release and this will probably put many off but it is a good story told by Buñuel.

Bells Are Ringing

[ags123 · 5/10 · 24 February 2021]

"Tristana" could have benefited from more dreamlike touches from famed surrealist Luis Bunuel. As it stands, the film relies too heavily on the one visual device (you'll know immediately what it is) which, at first sight is startling but, on later inspection, looks rather cheesy. Very little happens and by halfway through the movie you start to ask yourself what's the point. It just doesn't add up to very much. Deneuve looks great and the restored version uncovers some very nice cinematography. "Tristana" is for Bunuel lovers only.