Viridiana (1961)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Julio Alejandro (writer)
Luis Buñuel (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Viridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior. |

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Uncle | Murder | Suicide | Jumping Rope

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Silvia Pinal	...	Viridiana
Francisco Rabal	...	Jorge
Fernando Rey	...	Don Jaime
José Calvo	...	Beggar (as Jose Calvo)
Margarita Lozano	...	Ramona
José Manuel Martín	...	Beggar
Victoria Zinny	...	Lucia
Luis Heredia	...	Beggar
Joaquín Roa	...	Beggar
Lola Gaos	...	Beggar
María Isbert	...	Beggar (as Maruja Isbert)
Teresa Rabal	...	Rita (as Teresita Rabal)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Mexico | Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | France:Unrated | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Films 59

Trivia:

Conchita Buñuel said the costumes in the film were authentic. "We scoured the outlying districts of Madrid for them, particularly under bridges, giving poor people new clothes in exchange for their rags, which were then disinfected but not washed."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Drowning by Numbers (1988)

Buñuels superb, subversive denial of religious ethics

Few film directors have worked with the sheer power and subversiveness that Spanish-born Luis Buñuel have. "Viridiana" is one of the best examples of the exiled Spaniard's feelings towards religious faith and its virtues- or his strong denial of religion as a virtue.

Buñuel started out as a Surrealist, and although he left the Surrealist Circle of Paris lead by André Breton, he always kept elements of Surrealism in his work, to the bitter end. So too in "Viridiana", where dreams play a small, but important part of the narrative, dreams being the Surrealists' main theme as a way of discovering repressed sexuality and aggression. Viridiana is a young nun who is, on the grounds of showing human compassion, talked into visiting her uncle Don Jaime, who is ill. Don Jaime, played by Buñuel regular Fernando Rey, is caring, but perverse. He falls in love with his niece, and does everything with the help of his maid, to keep Viridiana from parting to the convent, including lying to her and seducing her while she is trainquilized.

I am not going to give away all the events of the film, but the corruption of humanity and Christianity are soon evident, as Viridiana tries to help poor beggars and give them a worthy life. Her attempts at Christian charity are only met with self-pity and egocentricity, as the beggars go on a rampage reminiscient of the last supper of Jesus christ and his disciples. Violence, murder, gluttony and rape are all included to make a clear picture of the way the beggars have lost their human virtues to the hardship of poverty. We see the events through Viridiana's eyes, and everything she goes through suggests a broken belief in the goodness of both human beings and the faith she kept for so long.

A masterpiece in revolutionary cinema, this film won the Palm d' Or at Cannes in 1961, and the Spanish Board of Film were all fired afterwards, as Franco's regime could not quite swallow that "Viridiana" was the official Spanish contribution to the Festival.