''The Virgin of Lust'' ( es, La virgen de la lujuria, links=no) is a 2002 Spanish-Mexican-Portuguese drama film directed by

Arturo Ripstein Arturo Ripstein y Rosen (born December 13, 1943) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. Considered the "Godfather of independent Mexican cinema", Ripstein's work is generally characterized by "somber, slow-paced, macabre melodramas tackling ...

from a screenplay by

Paz Alicia Garciadiego Paz Alicia Garciadiego (Born September, 1949 México D.F.) is a Mexican screenwriter and scholar, known for '' The Beginning and the End (Principio y fin)'' (1993), '' Deep Crimson (Profundo carmesí)'') (1996), and ''Bleak Street'' (2015). She a ...

. It is loosely based on

Max Aub Max Aub Mohrenwitz (June 2, 1903, Paris – July 22, 1972 Mexico City) was a Mexican-Spanish experimentalist novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic. In 1965 he founded the literary periodical ''Los Sesenta'' (the Sixties), with edit ...

's story ''La verdadera historia de la muerte de Francisco Franco'' (1960).

Plot

The film is set in Mexico in the 1940s. Nacho works for tyrannical racist Don Lázaro in the Café Ofelia. He falls in love with Spanish prostitute Lola.

Cast

Release

Distributed by Lauren Films, the film was released theatrically in Spain on 6 September 2002.

Reception

Deborah Young of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' considered that patient viewers are rewarded by "a memorable vision of sexual obsession as an everyday matter, paralleled to the devastation wreaked by great movements of history and politics".

Ángel Fernández-Santos Ángel Fernández-Santos (1934–2004) was a Spanish film critic and screenwriter. Born in Los Cerralbos, province of Toledo, in 1934, he was the younger brother of Marxist philosopher . He studied for a brief spell at the in the early 1960s. As ...

of '' El País'' considered the film to be "a magnificent direct hit of surreal cinema between the eyes that fascinates and, unfortunately, also makes you dizzy".

Awards

*Fipreci Prize at the

Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival The Festival do Rio is an international film festival in Rio de Janeiro. The festival was the result of a 1999 merger of two previous film festivals, the Rio Cine Festival and the Mostra Banco Nacional de Cinema. Founded in 1984 and 1988 respective ...

(2002)

References

External links

*
''The Virgin of Lust''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' 2002 drama films 2002 films Mexican drama films Portuguese drama films Spanish drama films 2000s Mexican films 2000s Spanish films 2000s Spanish-language films Films set in Mexico Films set in the 1940s Films directed by Arturo Ripstein {{2000s-Mexico-film-stub