Viridiana (1961)

• Year: 1961
• Released: 19 Mar 1962
• Country: Spain, Mexico
• Adwords: 2 wins & 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055601/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/viridiana
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: Spanish, English
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Drama
• Runtime: 91 min
• Writer: Julio Alejandro, Luis Buñuel, Benito Pérez Galdós
• Director: Luis Buñuel
• Cast: Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey
• Keywords: nun, based on novel or book, lie, faith, uncle, wine,

	8.1/10
	97% – Critics
	90% – Audience

Viridiana Storyline

Viridiana, a young novice about to take her final vows as a nun, accedes, moved purely by a sense of obligation, to a request from her widowed uncle to visit him. Stirred by her resemblance to his late wife, he attempts to seduce her and tragedy ensues. In the aftermath, Viridiana tries to assuage her guilt by creating a haven for the destitute folk who live around her uncle’s estate. But little good comes from these good intentions.—Jim Beaver

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Viridiana Movie Reviews

Hallelujah!

Viridiana may be one of the least surreal films in Luis Bunuel’s career, more than likely, but it has perhaps the most acidic satire in any of his 1960s work. It’s a film that, actually, might be a good portal into the director’s work for those who haven’t seen much or any of his work (though one could always vouch for Discreet Charm or Un Chien Andalou first). It’s actually got a very straightforward narrative without too many punches pulled in delving into the characters’ psyches. We’re given the compassionate, caring, but also very mixed-up Viridiana, played by Silvia Pinal, beautiful and kind, but in her ultra-Catholic character is someone who cannot be tempted in the least. She is, one would suppose, the most conventional character, and we’re just supposed to take for granted, in Bunuelian style, that she’s just like this way. No bother- this is a masterpiece of ensemble anyway, and an ensemble practically all non-professionals (it almost seems like Bunuel picked some of them from the same village that provided Las Hurdes). It’s bitter and depressing in its view of humanity, but it’s expertly crafted all the way, and it builds towards a tremendous climax.

For a while it seems like something very peculiar is going on with Viridiana and her uncle (Fernando Rey, in only a supporting role but one of his very best performances), when he invites her to stay at his home but won’t let here leave due to his infatuation with her. Indeed, we see- in one of the funniest bits early on- that he even tries her shoes on, and attempts to have his way with her when drugged. But Bunuel’s film, for the most part, isn’t necessarily as hilarious in its satire as in his other classics. Actually, it’s really more of a dramatic effort here, which is all the more fascinating to me: Bunuel can pull off making what seems, at least for 2/3 of the film, to be a sincere look at how a woman makes an attempt to overcome a tragedy in her family (Rey’s character’s end) by taking in vagrants and homeless folk and cripples, while her ‘cousin’ takes over the bourgeois duties. On this level, Bunuel, and his screenwriters, have a fantastic control over the mood of scenes, and then spiking with little visual details things that just strike his fancy (i.e. in the attic with the cat and the rat, or the teats on the cow, or the crown of thorns).

…BUT, then there’s a day when Viridiana has to go into town, and those she took in take over the joint, so to speak, and it makes the nighttime party scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest look tame by comparison. This is where finally, as if in a rush of clarity, Bunuel unleashes the fury of his satire, as one sees what the kindness and support that Viridiana tried to do- if not out of the genuine goodness of her heart then as just a way to clear her religiously guilty mind-set over Rey’s Uncle- completely, reprehensibly backfires. At this point one sees Bunuel at his naughtiest, most crude, and still as is a given with him, playful (one of the greatest moments in the filmmaker’s career comes when he deliberately sets up the Last Supper for the bums). Then, finally, one sees a very cruel and almost dehumanizing catharsis, but maybe it’s not really at the same time. There is a powerful message working through much of the picture, where religion, class, attitudes are all tested in the sense of restrictions: how far is too far with temptation and free will? For Bunuel, it can be anything, which is why the outcome of Viridiana taking in the homeless and destitute becomes her psychological downfall (see her hair let down towards the end, and her blank, drained face at the card table).

And yet, all through the symbolism that seems ambiguous (girl jumping rope) and very direct (burning of crown of thorns), and with the scathing mix of sordid drama and black-as-a-bull comedy, Bunuel never loses sight of his vision, and Viridiana is a constantly watchable effort with his gracious, intuitive camera, and his sharp ear for the truth in every character’s dialog. Frustrating at times, you bet, and its sensibilities on human nature, and the decisions made, make one re-think what it is to be either rich, poor, or in the middle. But it’s also one of the director’s best films, and a very deserved Golden Palm winner.

Misery, poverty, (bad) religion… Buñuel’s tribute to Franco’s work.

“Viridiana” and “Tierra Sin Pan” (a documentary) are two of the most cutting portraits of Spanish misery and poverty in the 20 that passed after 1936’s Civil War. Buñuel had no mercy and put everybody in their place.

The pious Viridiana (Silvia Pinal, wonderful!) who leaves the convent to come to live with his uncle in the country. His uncle (Fernando Rey, magnificent!), a man defeated by life who lives in the past and, finally, suicides. His cousin (Paco Rabal, the man!), which come to the country house looking for his inheritance. The tramps that Viridiana takes in… Some of the best characters in the history of cinema, and some of the best sequences ever filmed (that one with the tramps celebrating such a crazy party).

A fierce look against Spanish society, against religion and against the human condition itself. I’d pay for watching the face of dictator Franco’s censors when they watched “Viridiana”. They could have Buñuel shot for that. Luckily, he went to Mexico.

Well, this is a movie to talk about for hours and hours… Anyway, you just watch it and prepare to feel what cinema’s about.

*My rate: 10/10

we haven’t gotten very far at all

This film portrays the abysmal differences between people with different educations and senses of morality. At the same time, it is a commentary on the hopelessness of a society where no one understands why the status quo should be tampered with. No summary could really do this film justice since the visual impressions and symbols are just as important as the express message portrayed by the events.

But here goes: A novice is forced by circumstances to leave her convent and visit her uncle, falling under the influence of her world wise cousin. She tries to maintain her ideals by doing good works but is taken advantage of and despised by the very people she means to help.

Viridiana was the first film Buñuel filmed from exile and (so the story goes) the church was in an uproar and adamant that it be censored. Perhaps this is because none of the characters seem to give a fig about the teachings of the church except for the novice. Perhaps it is because one of the messages that seems clear is that the church is ineffectual in its efforts to improve the human condition. However, the depth of the story speaks more to the social condition in general -similar in all of Europe at the time- and the church was merely a part of that.

It is possible that a superficial viewing might interpret the characters to represent specific political factions from the era when the film was made but I believe that is an error. Even Franco, if we are to believe what we are told today, didn’t personally see anything wrong with the film when he saw it and his order that all copies be destroyed was given in the interest of appeasing the church. People who appreciate quality film will be grateful that at least one copy survived the mass destruction by being sent to France.