Discussing Tristana (1970) by looking at Memoirs of a Woman Without a Piano in the beginning of class was very thought provoking. I had not previously connected Don Lope’s relationship with Tristana to Luis Buñuel’s relationship with his wife, Jeanne Rucar. However, after relating Luis Buñuel’s contradictory progressive politics and misogynistic behaviors/beliefs to Don Lope’s similar worldviews, it is clear that there is an autobiographical element to the way Buñuel portrays Don Lope. Whether it is a conscious decision or not, his treatment of his wife, the way he gave her curfews and controlled her hobbies, is reflected in how Don Lope controls Tristana’s ability to leave her home or have her own life in general. It is interesting to me that in Tristana, Don Lope is considered the “villain”. He is portrayed as a groomer; He takes control of Tristana’s life at a young age and has sex with her when she is clearly in a vulnerable stage in her life, causing Tristana to grow terrified of his presence in her life and despise him. By the end of the film, this hatred is so strong that Tristana grows depressed and pessimistic about life, and then kills Don Lope. This means that Bunuel is self-aware that this treatment of women is ethically wrong and results in great consequences for both parties. Is he trying to reconcile with his guilt and sins through his filmmaking? Or is he building this public appearance that he cares about the stories of women, simply to make a good film, and then believes he can act hypocritically behind closed doors? I’m interested to learn more about Rucar’s point of view of their relationship and his filmmaking.