Retrato de mujer con hombre al fondo (1997)

A middle-aged Spanish woman withdraws into an icy world of her own making in the scandalous melodrama Retrato de mujer con hombre al fondo (1997). Paulina Gálvez stars as Cristina, a lovesick beauty who decides that cutting off all contact with other humans is her only defense against the crushing failures of love. The heroine embarks on the single-minded pursuit of a successful career, to the detriment of the ex-friends and lovers who once filled her life. Manane Rodríguez’s film has been viewed by some as an anti-feminist polemic, and it does paint a damning portrait of a work-obsessed shrew. Gálvez does allow her sensual instincts to take over on occasion, however, leading to ripe reveals of her heaving chest.