Before "Golden Balls" and "Jamón, Jamón", Bigas Luna directed the highly charged "The Ages of Lulu" about the sexual awakening of a young girl. One of his most explicit works to date, The Ages of Lulu (Les edades de Lulú) begins like a fairly standard knockoff of 9 1/2 Weeks but swerves into far more dangerous waters that could only be explored in Europe. Sweet little Lulu (Live Flesh's Francesca Neri) discovers her sexual awakening at the hands of older, self-absorbed Pablo (Óscar Ladoire), who makes her acquaintance by shaving her nether regions ("...so you'll look prettier"). Naturally they become a couple and experiment with various kinky situations, such as a blindfolded threesome with her brother. Lulu also becomes friends with a transvestite prostitute, Ely (played by female María Barranco with an added latex appendage), who joins them in the sack as well. Soon Lulu decides she's tired of being a sex object and goes off on her own. "Men enjoy looking at lesbians, so why can't I enjoy gays?" she ponders as she saunters into a local boy bar, where she hands over some cash to one male couple (including a young Javier Bardem) and frolics with them in a back room. Things turn much, much nastier, however, with a grueling finale.