Closing Night Film
"The highest level of escapism the movies can provide for us." ROGER EBERT

Tristana

Director: Luis Buñuel Country: Spain/Italy/France 1970 105 mins Drama Spanish with English subtitles Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero

This year’s closing night champions Luis Buñuel’s Tristana – the surrealist masterpiece starring Catherine Deneuve that explores religion, politics and love in a way that is still revolutionary today.

Orphaned as a young woman, Tristana (Deneuve) is taken in by well-respected, yet impoverished aristocrat Don Lope (Fernando Rey). It’s not long before Tristana’s entry into his life awakens desires and he takes advantage of her vulnerable situation, rationalising that she’d fare worse on the streets. Seducing her into a twisted and possesive relationship Don Lope justifies "If you want an honest woman, break her leg and keep her home" – a saying that ultimately comes true in an unexpected way.

When Tristana meets the painter Horacio (Franco Nero), they fall in love and she flees Don Lope. Two years later she is forced to return home, under devastating circumstances.

An artistic and dark love story not unlike an inverted Wuthering Heights (of which Buñuel also directed a Spanish version), Tristana will close the festival this year with a nod to this internationally revered Spanish director who changed the landscape of cinema forever.

  • 1970 Cannes Film Festival
  • Nominee -
    1971 Academy Awards: Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
All non-English language films will screen in the festival with English subtitles.