Tristana

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Tristana
original film poster
Directed by	Luis Buñuel
Produced by	Robert Dorfmann Luis Buñuel
Written by	Julio Alejandro Luis Buñuel Benito Pérez Galdós (novel)
Starring	Catherine Deneuve Fernando Rey Franco Nero
Cinematography	José F. Aguayo
Editing by	Pedro del Rey
Distributed by	Mercurio Films S.A.
Release date(s)	March 29, 1970
Running time	105 min
Language	Spanish
IMDb profile

Tristana is a 1970 film by Luis Buñuel based on a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós, starring Catherine Deneuve and Fernando Rey. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Tristana is an orphan who has been adopted by a nobleman called Don Lope Garrido. Don Lope falls in love with her and thus treats her as a daughter and wife from the age of 19, a bit of a scandal. By age 21 Tristana starts to find her voice, to demand to study music, art and other subjects with which she wishes to establish her independence. She meets a young artist called Horacio Díaz, falls in love, and eventually leaves Toledo to live with him.

This varies from the novel, where she sees him as a possible means of leaving Don Lope's house, but never lives with Horacio. When she becomes ill she moves back in with Don Lope, her previous refuge. Her illness results in her losing one leg, which changes her prospects. Here is where the film varies from the novel substantially.

Lope inherits money from his sister, eventually Tristana marries him, and when Lope is ill, Tristana finishes him off by feigning to call the doctor and opening the window to the winter cold. By this time she has become jaded like Lope. In the novel she marries Lope with resignation and in order for Lope to get his inheritance. Also, different from the novel is the increased role of Saturno, who is barely mentioned in the novel, but in the movie is a third love interest of Tristana.

This portrayal of a strong woman who wishes, against prevailing norms of her time, to be independent, evolved from the influence on Galdós of the strong women who were his lovers, including Emilia Pardo Bazán and Concha Ruth Morell. Tristana is part of a feminist movement; the novel being among many changes in Spain of the 1890's, and the film part of an awakening of Spain following Franco's death.

Tristana is a very famous romance novel in Spanish literature and culture. Buñuel's other important films, also banned by Francisco Franco, were Viridiana, 1961 and Nazarín, 1958.