The Ages of Lulu 1990

The fifteen-year-old Lulú is drawn into a dangerous orbit when Pablo, the best friend of her older brother Marcelo, seduces her and leaves for the United States. For years she clings to the belief that Pablo will return and complete what began in the shadows, a promise that sustains her through longing and doubt. When he finally comes back, he proposes, and they marry, embarking on a passionate, intimate relationship that gradually reveals a taste for increasingly experimental sexual games.

On a late-night expedition, the couple meet a transgender prostitute named Ely, who becomes a friend and confidante in a world that blurs boundaries. They later welcome a daughter, Ines, and there is a sense of shared fantasy and feverish habits that bind them together. Yet the alliance strains when Pablo persuades Lulú to participate blindfolded in a threesome, only for her to discover that the third person is Marcelo, her own brother. Devastated by the betrayal, she leaves Pablo, taking their daughter with her, but her appetite for dangerous experiences only intensifies.

Seeking ever stronger sensations, Lulú begins to pursue encounters with gay men, paying them to join in orgies or to watch them have sex. When money can’t keep up with her desires, she falls in with Remy, a pimp who runs a secret S&M club. Ely warns Lulú that Remy is dangerous, but the lure of transgressive pleasure silences her concerns, and Ely ultimately heads to warn Pablo instead. Remy directs Lulú to a club where she is tied up and subjected to violent sex by Jimmy, a gay man she had previously paid for sex.

As the danger escalates, Ely tells Pablo that Lulú is in peril. She heads to the club to rescue her, but is attacked by Jimmy and killed when her head strikes a metal bar. Pablo calls the police, who arrest Jimmy and the others, and in the end, Lulú and Pablo are reunited, though the shadows of the night linger.