that would include major artistic triumphs for both. Cambio de Sexo dramatizes the development of the destape – the period in the late 1970s and early 1980s Spain characterized by a much more open portrayal of sex in the press, literature and film. Cambio de Sexo recounts the story of a young effeminate boy, played by Victoria Abril, who lives in the outskirts of Barcelona and escapes to the city to explore his desire to become a woman. The character of the young man is an embodiment of the changes in Spain, with political extremes of uncompromising orthodoxy and unrestrained anarchy. Cambio de Sexo lured audiences with its controversial theme, and it was released to critical acclaim. La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro (1980) Sexuality and the past, key themes in Aranda's work, are at the center of La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro (1980) (Girl with the Golden Panties). This was an adaptation of a popular novel by his fellow Catalan Juan Marsé, in which Aranda displayed a more mature style. A Falangist character is writing his memoirs and shapes his past to the new democratic realities. His world of lies falls apart when he is confronted by his carefree niece, who playfully starts a game of seduction. Always interested in literature, over the next fifteen years, Aranda became Spain's foremost adapter of popular contemporary novels into film. His films have been adapted from short narratives to novels, as well as biographies. His choices usually were guided by the centrality of an erotically defined female character, and a contemporary story emphasizing the force of the milieu on the shaping of actions. For Aranda, adapting a literary work did not involve complications of faithfulness, or lack of the same, to the original text. For him the novel was a raw material with which to create new forms: " As for adaptations, I feel very comfortable doing them. I don't have a problem with authorship. I don't think I am more of an author if I write a screenplay of something I've read on the newspapers or seen on the street that if I take a novel and make a movie based on its contents". Asesinato en el Comité Central (1982) After democracy was installed in Spain, Aranda made a film politically charged with the aftereffects of Franco's regime: Asesinato en el Comité Central (1982) (Murder in the Central