Lola (1974)
"No es nada, mamá, sólo un juego" (original title)

A 25-30-year old Hacienda-owner (David Hemmings) is misbehaving on women due to his traumatic youth; his mother (Alida Valli) covers him for his sadistic actions; however, when he wants the... See full summary »

Director:

José María Forqué

Writers:

José María Forqué, Hermógenes Sáinz

Stars:

David Hemmings, Alida Valli, Francisco Rabal

Cast

Cast overview:
David Hemmings	...	Juan
Alida Valli	...	Louise
Francisco Rabal	...	Tío
Andrea Rau	...	Lola
Nuria Gimeno	...	Lucia
Galeazzo Benti	...	Doctor
Aquiles Guerrero	...	Aquiles
Lucila Herrera	...	Maria
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba hijo	...	Juan as child
Rudy Hernández	...	Isabel
Enrique Soto	...	Lolas Father

Storyline

A 25-30-year old Hacienda-owner (David Hemmings) is misbehaving on women due to his traumatic youth; his mother (Alida Valli) covers him for his sadistic actions; however, when he wants the daughter of the mansion supervisor to serve for him, things seem to get totally out of hand. He 'tames' her, but when 'tamed' and finally married, the young woman (Andrea Rau) soon becomes the dominating person in the family.

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Plot Keywords:

mansion | servant | worm in food | sexual perversion | traumatic childhood | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Spain Venezuela

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

January 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lola

Filming Locations:

Venezuela

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 65,742,130 (Spain) (3 September 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Producciones Cinematográficas Orfeo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

User Reviews

Artistic sleaze

This is vaguely arty film which criticizes the decadence of landed nobility in Latin America and explores the perverse dialectic between power and sexuality. And of course, it's also a convenient excuse to show beautiful (and frequently naked) European actresses being abused and sexually degraded. David Hemmings is the spoiled and sexually-warped heir of a decrepit and nearly-bankrupt Venezuelan hacienda. His doting mother (Alida Valli) hires peasant girls from the nearby village to indulge her son in his perverse "games". His latest victim is played by Andrea Rau (who was Delphine Seyrig's vampiric lesbian sidekick in "Daughters of Darkness"). He locks her in a pen and starves her until she gives in to his sexual demands. He then plays various humiliating games with her--forcing her strip and dousing her with a hose, feeding her a maggot-filled loaf of bread, making her dress up like a bunny and run through the woods while he "hunts" her on horseback. Of course, he gets his comeuppance in the end but not before the requisite amount of nudity, sex, and misogynistic degradation has been achieved. I certainly wouldn't recommend this film to feminists (or to the vast majority of women for that matter), but it is fairly tasteful and restrained compared to many other films of its ilk. If you're into this sort of stuff but can't handle the rougher WIP, nunsploitation, or Nazi death camp movies, this one might be for you.