Férula Trueba was lesbian???

To me, Ferula hadn't "matured" sexually or emotionally as she was still a virgin and didn't know how to distiguish sexual desire from affection.

Yeah, this was a really tough thing for me to interpret, too, but I think the first person who responded to this post (v_basketmom) hit it right on the nail. Ferula was such an emotionally neglected person, so starving for human contact, and when Clara gave her that unconditional love, she couldn't get enough. It was all she ever wanted, and all of a sudden, she had it. I think it's mostly up to the audience and each person's own interpretations, but although it would be easy to think that there was something bigger going on between Ferula and Clara, I really don't think that was the case, now that I think of it.

It's a tribute to Glenn Close's acting in the scene where her brother is throwing her out, and she says, "For Clara's sake, I want you to know it was never the way you imagined it between us. Never." The way she said it, you can genuinely sense that she is telling the truth, and you can feel it in her voice that all she ever wanted was to be loved and wanted, and the years she spent with Clara and Blanca were the very best she could have possibly had.

But then again, the confession Ferula has with the priest tells another story. Maybe Ferula did have some kind of feelings for Clara deep down inside, but because she cared about her and never wanted to hurt her, she wouldn't dare come out with it. But really, when you consider the poor woman's life and how painfully lonely she was, it makes all the sense in the world that she just wanted a family to call her own. Having been without that human contact for so long, she probably couldn't distinguish between those two types of love and affection. And also, if you think about it, Clara was a hugely perceptive person, due to the "gift" she was born with to foreshadow things, and I think that if Ferula felt that way about her, Clara would have known it and sensed it. As Ferula said once in the movie, Clara was a sort of "angel," and her time on Earth was only a small piece of her. Clara had the rare privilege of seeing people for who they truly were, and she knew that Ferula was a friend and a sister that she'd treasure for the rest of her life.

That scene where Ferula's spirit comes into the house and kisses Clara on the cheek, then when Clara found her dead, always gives me the chills. Again, it's a credit to Glenn Close as an actress for making this character so deep and multi-dimensional.