VIRIDIANA - DVD review

If the release of "The Da Vinci Code" offends your religious sensibilities, you might want to avoid Luis Buñuel's playfully blasphemous "Viridiana" (1961).

Lovely young Viridiana (Silvia Pinal) is about to take her vows at the convent when her uncle invites her to visit his estate. Viridiana admits she feels nothing for the uncle she hasn't seen in years, but goes reluctantly when ordered to do so by the Mother Superior. Depending on how you view the film, this is either a monumental mistake or Viridiana's first step towards liberation.

Her uncle Don Jaime (Buñuel veteran Fernando Rey) is rich but lonely, and he soon falls madly in love with Viridiana who looks so much like his late wife. He becomes so obsessed with Viridiana that he drugs her and plans to rape her while she is unconscious; he doesn't go through with it but still tells Viridiana he has deflowered her, hoping she will be too ashamed to return to the convent. His ploy fails, but he still gets the last laugh when he hangs himself and leaves half of his estate to her. Viridiana will have to postpone her return to a Godly life for a little while longer. Viridiana still clings to her principles (as well as her virginity) and devotes her life to helping the poor. She takes in a group of beggars, providing housing, food and work for them all. If you think the beggars are going to be grateful to their saintly benefactress, and that everything will be hunky-dory now that nasty old Don Jaime is out of the picture, you obviously don't know Luis Buñuel.

Controversy dogged Buñuel throughout his career, but in this case the controversy began before "Viridiana" even began filming. Buñuel had left Spain in 1939, but suddenly decided in 1960 to return to his home country even though it was ruled by fascist dictator Francisco Franco. Buñuel's return was viewed either as a betrayal or a ticking time bomb: the latter turned out to be closer to the truth. "Viridiana" opened auspiciously enough, sailing through the Spanish censors with only minor cuts, then winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes. But then the Vatican got wind of the film. Deeming it blasphemous, the Church mobilized Catholics to protest the film. Soon the film was banned in Spain, where it wasn't screened again until 1977, thus quickly ending Buñuel's homecoming party. However, while "Viridiana" did not endear Buñuel to Franco and Friends, it did earn him a degree of international attention he had not experienced since the 1930s and kick-started perhaps the most productive phase of his long and remarkable career.

Measured against the rest of Buñuel's work, "Viridiana" actually seems fairly subdued. The film's primary provocation, besides the incest subplot, involves the climactic sequence in which Viridian's beggars, left unsupervised, run wild in the mansion. They stage a banquet which gradually morphs into an orgy, mirroring the sly way in which Buñuel initially depicts the beggars as picaresque then later as grotesque. At one point, they all pose for a "picture," striking a pose that directly imitates Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" complete with a blind, abusive drunkard as Jesus. Buñuel claims he intended no blasphemy by this or by his inclusion of a crucifix that doubled as a switchblade (supposedly readily available in Spanish stores), but it's difficult to believe he was unaware of the way the film would be received.

The beggars do far worse than just trash the estate. Once Viridiana returns, two of them try to rape her; the rape is only stopped then one of the beggars agrees to kill the other for money. It's tempting to say that Buñuel is mocking Viridiana's Christian ideals but if that's all that was going on, the film would simply be a cruel joke without a good punch line. Buñuel is skeptical of Viridiana's lofty and unrealistic ambitions, but he's more interested in expressing the reality of life in Spain than in humiliating his protagonist.

Speaking of realism when discussing on the masters of cinema surrealism may seem odd, but "Viridiana" doesn't feature the absurdist flourishes of other Buñuel masterpieces like "The Exterminating Angel" (1962) or "Diary of a Chambermaid" (1964). The film hews to a surprisingly logical (and chronological) path, and Buñuel takes the time to flesh out some multi-faceted characters. Don Jaime is not just a leering pervert, but a lonely old man who is still sympathetic even though his actions are repugnant. Likewise, the beggars aren't used merely as a tool to give pious Viridiana her come-uppance, but are a more realistically depicted than if they were simply portrayed as helpless innocents. When given the chance to experience the good life they've never had, they take it. Some of them just scratch their hedonistic itch, others go way too far. There are rotten apples in every barrel.

As for Viridiana, she has a kind heart but learns (though I hesitate to use the word "learn" because Buñuel was not in the business of "teaching" his characters lessons in any simple-minded after-school special way) that she can't save the world, at least not as simply as she thought she could. Perhaps that's Buñuel's primary criticism: the easy, clear-cut answers offered by the Church are neither easy nor clear-cut. Life is more complex than it seems from inside the four walls of a convent. That doesn't make "Viridiana" an anti-religious film, so much as an anti-organized religion film, which sure as hell sounds like a sensible position to me. Besides, what do you expect from a director who once quipped, "Thank God I am an atheist!"

Video

The film is presented in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The black-and-white photography is sharp, but the transfer is not quite as clean as we've come to expect from Criterion. It's still very good, but a ragged splice here, a bit of debris there and it's not quite an upper echelon Criterion transfer.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the Spanish audio.

Extras

"Viridiana" is considered to be one of Buñuel's defining works, so the relatively meager selection of extras is mildly disappointing. The lack of a commentary track is the most noticeable shortcoming.

In an August 2005 interview (13 min.), Cineaste editor Richard Porton places the film in the context of Buñuel's career. He makes an interesting point when he notes that surrealism was always rooted in everyday life (it is, after all built "on realism"), which provides some food for thought when (re)considering some of Buñuel's work.

In a January 2006 interview (14 min.), Sylvia Pinal discusses her work on "Viridiana" and other Buñuel films. Pinal has had a remarkable career not just as an actress, but as a television star and politician.

The disc also contains edited excerpts (37 min.) from an April 4, 1964 episode of the French television show "Cinéastes de notre temps" about Buñuel's early career. In grand French style, there is a lot of fawning over the great auteur, but the program is still interesting and entertaining.

The insert booklet features an essay by author Michael Wood, and an extended interview with Buñuel, excerpted from the book "Objects of Desire: Conversations with Luis Buñuel."

Closing Thoughts

The Vatican has been protesting "anti-Catholic" films for years, and audiences keep on going to see them anyway. As far as "movies that pissed off the Pope" go, "Viridiana" is a masterpiece. Come to think of, it's a masterpiece by just about any standard. I wouldn't rate "Viridiana" among Buñuel's very best work ("The Exterminating Angel," "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," "Land without Bread") but that's splitting hairs. "Viridiana" is essential viewing from an essential filmmaker.