The Ages Of Lulu [DVD]

The Ages of Lulu should not be watched by anyone that is easily offended by Homoerotic images. It is both disturbing and beautiful. The way Lulu is lead from a shy and retiring college girl to a woman that is obsessed with extreme sex is amazing. Watch this film if you are a Saturday Night, once a week sex person. You will quickly learn that there is more to sex than page one of the Lovers Guide to Love Making!!

What do you expect, shocking age, but how all were we when we got horny?

I always measure a character study by how well we've come to know the characters by the end of the film. In Shame, for example, I genuinely felt that I knew Fassbender's Brandon as a person, such was the craft of the acting and film-making; we peered into his very soul. In Cashback, we felt we knew Biggerstaff's Ben, because that film took the time to establish him properly. Those two very different films used two radically different techniques to fulfil the same role; make a character, make us know the character, make us seem real.This film, however, seemed slightly empty to me; we never knew really "know" Lulu as the curtain shuts. We follow her from a 15 year old girl seduced by a much older man, to a mid-30 year old embarking on a sexual conquest of homosexual activity and S+M hi-jinks, but by the end, I didn't really know why she did what she did. She was never explored fully, and this was the big weakness of the film; as a central character, she never seemed like a character.This is the films biggest weakness. There were strengths; the film was merciless in its slaying of taboos (paedophilia, incest, bondage, fisting), and yet it never felt that they were being put in their for the sake of it, and the screenplay provided context and justification for them. The acting was quite good; even if we are never allowed to see who she is, Francesca Neri put in a brave, committed and commendable performance as Lulu. Oscar Ladoire is also effective as the main love interest of Lulu, Pablo. It was competently made, drawing a perfect balance between arty and not overly showy, making it quite pretty to look at.It also included a frankly unforgettable scene involving a threesome with Lulu, Pablo, and a transvestite which will not easily be forgotten once you've seen it.As you can probably tell, prude people prone to blushing, or anyone with moderate sensibilities, need not apply.All in all, it was a fairly good, incredulously graphic, shockingly rude film that is hampered by the fact that Lulu, as a character, never feels real. If she were given room to breath, I have no doubt that this film would have been some kind of odd masterpiece, instead of just a sex-fuelled oddity. Half recommended.

To start with I couldn't understand what this young girl would see in Pablo, who seemed to be so much older than he was meant to be, but luckily he gets younger looking when he has come back from America (hmmm,wonder why?)so it seemed a bit more realistic. But what a creep! I really enjoyed this film. There is a lot of sex in it, but none of it seemed as if it should have elevator style music playing in the background. So much better than the other recommendations which come up when you look for this - Choses Secretes, L'Aventure, for example, which are really poor and they're French, tsk, tsk - but this is the Spanish showing how this kind of film should be done. Fantastic acting from the female lead. As a previous reviewer said, don't watch it with your Gran and quote of the year must be 'el incesto no entre nunca en mis planes'. Got to agree with her there. Yikes.

I bought this on recommendation of Amazon.The story is about a girl called Lulu, there was me thinking it was a history of the annoying shouty scouse singer and I was disapointed when i started to watch it.Lulu when a teenager with a dubious dress sense meets her brothers best friend Pablo, a real loathesome man who everytime he appeared on screen, i wanted to reach out and punch him. Pablo is a bit of a sleaze and seduces Lulu and then proecceds to subject her to some 'adventures' including being tricked into sleeping with her brother. The only interesting things about Pablo is that he never seems to age as Lulu gets older and he always seems to wear the same black clothes.Lulu then goes off the rails of some sort and ends up meeting that floppy haired bloke from No Country for Old men (he must cringe when asked about appearing in this rubbish). Pablo then confirms my suspscions that he is indeed a loser by allowing a transvestite to sort out his problems for him but becomes the hero when he barges past a Policeman at the end of the film when Lulu is released from her 'hell'What a load of rubbish and thank god for fast forward :o

Nice film explores the relationship between the two main charactors nicely.

Not worth the money

A great film of its genre. One I really enjoyed watching

top.

This movie opens your mind to the very realistic facts of life. It will not disappoint, but it will shock you, to say the least.

Parmi les films érotiques, The ages of Lulu est un grand film alliant un scénario, une prise d'image de qualité et des ambiances torrides. L'intérêt du film réside aussi dans l'imbrication de deux mondes, celui de la vie quotidienne dans un milieu bien pensant et un peu bourgeois avec celui du monde de la nuit et des sexualités alternatives jusqu'à la recherche des sensations fortes à risque après les avoir écartées. Lulu passe de l'innocence au monde SM avec et contre son gré avec les rires, les larmes, les tentations, les désirs irrationnels jusqu'à mettre sa vie en danger. Les acteurs sont convaincants; Lulu, Francesca Neri, est engagée dans son rôle, sans pudeur, sensible, déterminée, femme ... Un grand film du cinéaste espagnol Bigas Luna d'après le roman de Almudena Grandes, un des grands écrivains espagnols actuels, qui fut un bestseller à sa parution en 1989. VO (espagnol) sous-titres en anglais.

Francesca Neri ist eine der besten europäischen Schauspielerinnen -- und eine der unterschätztesten. Was sie in diesem Semi-Klassiker von Bigas Luna leistet, ist wirklich großes Kino! "Lulu" handelt von der sexuellen Selbstfindung einer jungen Frau. Luna gönnt sich und dem Zuschauer eine deftige Bildsprache. Die Sexszenen sind ausufernd, gut choreografiert, aber von Pornografie weit entfernt. Der junge Javier Bardem spielt einen Homosexuellen, der Lulu hilft, ihre erotischen Fantasien (u. a. es mit Schwulen zu treiben) auszuloten. Leider krankt der Film an seiner fehlenden Handlung, d. h. er langweilt irgendwann trotz der Nacktkörperakrobatik. Dennoch: Anfang der 1990er entfachte der Film einen regelrechten Hype (von Skandal mag ich nicht sprechen) und etablierte Bigas Luna als einen versierten Meisterregisseur mit erotischem Interesse. Das Genre des Erotikfilms gehört ohnehin zu den schwierigsten. Bevor man sich auf minderwertige Kost einlässt, sollte man sich durch Bigas Lunas Werk schauen.

PARFAITMerci.