This talk focuses on three early films by Bigas Luna: Bilbao (1978) and Caniche (1979) and Lola (1986), often regarded as a ‘sex trilogy’. Long and very public feuds with female starts became a constant throughout his career, partly motivated by the director’s self-proclaimed obsession with myths and taboos about women and the female body and a penchant for their explicit depiction in his films. Professor Hernandez will argue that controversies like these have tended to dominate and obscure the critical reception and the sociological and aesthetic value of the films.