{"id":9137,"date":"2013-08-01T00:45:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T04:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=9137"},"modified":"2014-07-16T15:38:10","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:38:10","slug":"luis-bunuel-viridiana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2013\/08\/01\/luis-bunuel-viridiana\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Bu\u00f1uel: Viridiana<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Viridiana<\/em> (1961) is the first of three films Luis Bu\u00f1uel made with the lovely Sylvia Pinal (the other two are The Exterminating Angel<\/em> and Simon of the Desert<\/em>, which we’ll get to eventually).\u00a0Following two decades\u00a0of political exile,\u00a0Bu\u00f1uel made\u00a0his return to his native Spain and produced this\u00a0Palme d’Or winner. It’s not surprising that the Cannes jury that awarded this film their top honor weren’t looking at it with the same eyes as the leader of Spain, which at this time was still, after over a quarter of a century, Francisco\u00a0Franco (who would continue to preside another fifteen years). Well, Bu\u00f1uel gave Franco the finger with this film, and Franco knew it.<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-cover\"<\/p>\n

Pinal plays the\u00a0innocent\u00a0Viridiana who, when the movie begins, is just a few days away from taking her vows as a nun. Apparently for some time Viridiana has been supported by her reclusive, lonely uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), and he\u2019d like her to visit him at his estate before she takes her vows. Viridiana has met him only once, feels no loyalty, and really doesn\u2019t want to see him, but her mother superior insists; after all, this is gratitude.<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-1\"<\/p>\n

As you can see from the screenshot above, Don Jaime has issues. He\u2019s been lonely since his young wife died, his young wife who looks a great deal like young Viridiana. In the evening, after everyone has retired, Don Jaime pulls out his wife\u2019s wedding attire \u2014 and, well, tries it on. He\u2019s a disturbed mind, supremely depressed and lonely. Viridiana sleep walks in on him. He knows it’s Viridiana, but in those dark hours it appears just as if his wife is returning from the grave.<\/p>\n

The next day, Don Jaime, more disturbed than ever now, asks Viridiana to stay. She says no, but finally does give in on one of Don Jaime\u2019s strange requests for one small favor (there\u2019s that gratitude again): to dress up in the wedding attire herself. With the assistance of his servant Ramona (Margarita Lozano), Don Jaime corners Viridiana and makes a proposal, of sorts.<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-2\"<\/p>\n

Now, for whatever reason, that tact didn\u2019t work. Viridiana is determined to take her vows despite the generous offer. In fact, she is quite shock and dismayed.<\/p>\n

So far this post has discussed only the first 20 minutes or so of this 1 hour and 30 minute film. When I first watched it, I simply had no idea what was coming after so much had already happened. And perhaps it\u2019s best if you stop reading this and see for yourself as well. I\u2019m going to go on, however, though not to the point of really spoiling things (I don\u2019t think).<\/p>\n

While Don Jaime is proclaiming his love to Viridiana, Ramona prepares a drugged drink. As planned, Viridiana falls into a deep sleep, Don Jaime takes her to bed, and the next scene is awful as we see him fight the temptation to rape her. He succeeds in overcoming his urge to violate her, but, because he thinks it will keep her home, when she wakes up he tells her she is no longer a virgin. She cannot possibly return to the convent now, he argues. How this would work in his favor, I don\u2019t know, and it doesn\u2019t; Viridiana is heading out. Wait, he cries, and tells her the truth:<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-3\"<\/p>\n

Yes, that’s better, but not to the point of redeeming the mad man. Viridiana still leaves, gets to the bus station, and is forced to return when the police\u00a0intercept her and\u00a0tell her Don Jaime has committed suicide. This is at the 30 minute mark, so just what is going to happen in the last hour? It\u2019s been sad so far, and now Viridiana feels guilt at the same time she is proud she did not give in. But how is this going to get so controversial?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a clue:<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-4\"<\/p>\n

And the wedding attire figures in again too:<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-5\"<\/p>\n

Don Jaime generously leaves his estate to two people: part will go to Viridiana and part will go to his illegitimate son, Jorge (Fransisco Rabal). Jorge has shown up at the estate with a woman yet flirts openly with Viridiana. As it turns out, Don Jaime\u2019s suicide\u00a0convinces Viridiana\u00a0that she cannot return to the convent and take her vows; there is good work to be done outside. However, she isn\u2019t just going to live in comfort at the estate. Feeling guilty for a variety of reasons (one of which she doesn\u2019t even know if she should feel \u2014 is she a virgin, she must wonder), she has invited a troop of the poor, upon which she can cast her charity. This motley crew is pictured above at the incredibly controversial dinner shot.<\/p>\n

Things just don\u2019t go well for Viridiana. She knows nothing of the world — it’s a mess, corrupt, simply not salvageable —\u00a0and cannot possibly manage her ill-advised project. Under their humble surface, this group would just as soon have her throat, or some other part of her, and it all comes to a head \u2014 and then, as the dust settles, we move to this curious final scene, which goes down in film history as one of the most provocative endings of all time.<\/p>\n

\"viridiana-6\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s such a curious film, banned in Spain (until 1977), denounced by the Vatican (probably still). It is, in the words of a member of another forum, nine months\u2019 pregnant with symbolism. I found that, agree with it or not, it was a visual feast, fun to pick apart, great to behold, a masterwork.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trevor reviews Luis Bu\u00f1uel’s 1961 film and Palm d’Or winner, Viridiana<\/em>. Read the full post<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"libsyn-item-id":0,"libsyn-show-id":0,"libsyn-post-error":"","libsyn-post-error_post-type":"","libsyn-post-error_post-permissions":"","libsyn-post-error_api":"","playlist-podcast-url":"","libsyn-episode-thumbnail":"","libsyn-episode-widescreen_image":"","libsyn-episode-blog_image":"","libsyn-episode-background_image":"","libsyn-post-episode-category-selection":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_thumbnail":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_theme":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_height":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_width":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_placement":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_download_link":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_download_link_text":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_custom_color":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-explicit":"","libsyn-post-episode":"","libsyn-post-episode-update-id3":"","libsyn-post-episode-release-date":"","libsyn-post-episode-simple-download":"","libsyn-release-date":"","libsyn-post-update-release-date":"","libsyn-is_draft":"","libsyn-new-media-media":"","libsyn-post-episode-subtitle":"","libsyn-new-media-image":"","libsyn-post-episode-keywords":"","libsyn-post-itunes":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-number":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-season-number":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-type":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-title":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-author":"","libsyn-destination-releases":"","libsyn-post-episode-advanced-destination-form-data":"","libsyn-post-episode-advanced-destination-form-data-enabled":"","libsyn-post-episode-advanced-destination-form-data-input-enabled":false,"libsyn-post-episode-premium_state":"","libsyn-episode-shortcode":"","libsyn-episode-embedurl":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[402],"tags":[642,779,579],"coauthors":[505],"class_list":["post-9137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-luis-bunuel","tag-criterion-collection","tag-film","tag-spanish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/viridiana1.jpg?fit=1170%2C1694&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pqqvZ-2nn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9137"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13060,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137\/revisions\/13060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9137"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}