Tue 7th April 6:45pm

Bigas Luna, 95min, Spain, 1978. Drama.

Extremely provoking and bold Bilbao, a Story of Love, has become one of the canonical Spanish cult films. Leo is a solitary, introverted man who falls in love with a young prostitute, Bilbao. Together with Maria, a perverse motherly figure, they form a bizarre and sordid love triangle. Heavily influenced by both American underground and erotic cinema, Bilbao creates a crude and asphyxiating atmosphere haunted by images of fetishism and paranoia. Director Bigas Luna creates a beautiful, radical film, an iconic render on erotic captivity, an utterly free narrative that lets the dramatic beauty of human abyss shine below the ugliness of its surface. A strong influence in Almodóvar’s cinema.

“A nightmarish urban vision as powerful in its way as Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.” American Cinemateque

Cast: Ángel Jové, Francisco Falcon, Isabel Pisano, Jordi Torras, María Martín, Mario Gas, Pep Castelló

AWARDS

• Special Quality award. Ministerio de Cultura.    
• Nominated "L'Age d'Or". Brussels.     
• Nominated Cannes Internacional Festival 78
• Nominated Sydney Festival.
  

Reviews