Plot

Shortly after her mother's death, an innocent and youthful woman will find refuge into the household of her middle-aged aristocratic guardian, who will submit her to his sexual advances.

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. But when she acts on this freedom, Don Lope must deal with the consequences of his world-view.—Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>

In the 30's, in Spain, the teenager Tristana 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, 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.—Claudio carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

After the death of her mother a young woman, Tristana, falls under the guardianship of Don Lope. Don Lope is a good man in many ways: a socialist at heart, he treats people fairly and has gained the respect of the community in which he lives. If he has a weakness it's women - particularly pretty women and Tristana certainly meets that criteria. The much older Don Lope sets out - successfully - to seduce her but interest in a struggling young artist, Horacio, leads her down a different path.—garykmcd

Shortly after her mother's death, the innocent and youthful Tristana is adopted by Don Lope, a middle-aged aristocratic intellectual, who takes her into his house as the girl's appointed guardian. However, before long, the lascivious man taking advantage of Tristana's submissiveness, he will submit her to his sexual advances, assuming the role of both a father and a husband. But then, unexpectedly, Tristana will fall in love with Horacio, a handsome but poor young artist, and an unforeseen and instinctive transformation will begin.—Nick Riganas