The Stories of Eva Luna

When Nicolás Vidal is a baby, the midwife prophesies that a woman “would cost him his life.” Between this and his strained relationship with his mother, a sex worker named Juana la Triste who tried her best to abort him, Vidal grows up lonely and distrustful of women. As an adult, he becomes a feared and infamous gang leader. The town’s local judge, Judge Hidalgo, tries to go after him several times, but he fails when his men lose their nerve.

Judge Hidalgo’s wife, Casilda, is the woman who ends up costing Vidal his life. Plain, young, and delicate, Casilda doesn’t look like a threat to Vidal, so he writes her off immediately upon seeing her for the first time. No one expects her to survive the harsh climate or her unpleasant and vindictive husband, but despite this, Casilda bears three children with ease and even seems to have a positive effect on the Judge. No one is sure what goes on in their house, but Judge Hidalgo starts applying more even logic to his cases and letting innocents walk free.

Still, Judge Hidalgo wants to bring Vidal to justice. He hatches a morally dubious plan to lure him into town for an ambush by imprisoning Juana la Triste in a cage in the plaza with no water to drink. Once Vidal hears of the insult to his mother, Judge Hidalgo reasons, he’ll be honor-bound to come rescue her. However, Vidal reacts with cool objectivity, deciding to call Judge Hidalgo’s bluff by refusing to rescue his mother. As Juana starts to waste away, her desperate cries for water haunt everyone in the town. When the sex workers go on a sympathy strike, thus setting the angry miners loose on the town, the townspeople go to Casilda for help.

Casilda gathers a basket of food and a jug of water and goes to the plaza with her children in tow. She goes to the cage to give the offerings to Juana la Triste, and the men guarding it grab her arms. Seeing their mother in distress, her children start to cry. Judge Hidalgo hears the cries of his children in addition to Juana’s wails and can no longer bear the situation. He comes outside and meets Casilda’s eyes, then takes her food and water and gives them to Juana himself. The next day, Juana hangs herself out of shame that Vidal never came to rescue her, and Vidal decides to avenge her honor after all.

Vidal pursues Judge Hidalgo and Casilda on their way back to the town. On the road, Judge Hidalgo’s heart suddenly gives out, leaving Casilda and her children stranded. With her husband dead and no way home, Casilda knows that she will almost certainly be raped so that Vidal can get the revenge he wanted. Thinking quickly, she brings her children to a cave and orders them to hide as long as they can. Casilda then returns to the car and prepares to draw out her own rape as long as it takes for her children to have the best chance of survival possible.

When Vidal appears, he’s alone. Now, Casilda knows her best chance is to try to seduce and distract him. She locks eyes with Vidal, and in their resolute lack of fear, they both recognize an equal. Casilda does everything she can to keep Vidal’s attention as they have sex for hours. Vidal knows that Casilda is the woman prophesied to be his undoing, but he’s so overcome with the first intimacy of his life that he lets it happen. To her surprise, Casilda finds herself enjoying the encounter more than she expected. She tries to convince him to flee when they hear the police coming, but he refuses, choosing to kiss her until they find him instead.