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Viridiana
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Wikipedia article
'Viridiana' is a 1961 Spanish-Mexican film directed by Luis Buuel and produced by Gustavo Alatriste. It is loosely based on the 1895 novel 'Halma' by Benito Prez Galds.
The film was the co-winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. In a 2016 poll of 350 experts organized by Spanish film magazine 'Caimn Cuadernos de Cine', it was voted the best Spanish film of all time, with 227 votes.
Plot
A novice nun named Viridiana is about to take her vows when her uncle Jaime invites her to visit him. She has only met him once and does not want to go, but her mother superior reminds Viridiana that Jaime is her only living relative and paid for her studies, so she agrees to make the trip.
Jaime is a widow and recluse who lives on a neglected country estate with a few servants. He greets Viridiana, who strongly resembles her aunt, warmly and says he is sorry he does not know her better. Viridiana likes life on the farm, but remains cold toward Jaime, as she heard he has an illegitimate son who he abandoned.
On the last day of her visit, Jaime asks Viridiana to don his wife's wedding gown. She does, and Jaime tells her that her aunt died of a heart attack on their wedding night. It becomes clear that Jaime wants to marry Viridiana, and she is repulsed. He seems to drop the idea and gets her to agree to stay for a cup of coffee before going to bed, signaling his maid Ramona to drug Viridiana's drink. Jaime kisses her once she is unconscious, but cannot bring himself to rape her.
In the morning, Jaime tells Viridiana that, because he raped her, she cannot return to the convent. She still packs her things, so he admits what really happened, hoping she will not leave hating him, but Viridiana does not forgive Jaime.
Viridiana is kept from boarding the bus out of town by the news that Jaime hung himself. She feels guilty for his death and decides to stay on at the estate. Jaime split his belongings between Viridiana and his son, Jorge, who moves into Jaime's house with his girlfriend, Luca, and begins to fix up the buildings and land he inherited. Meanwhile, Viridiana pays beggars from town to move onto the property, where she cares for them and devotes herself to their moral development. She even welcomes Jos, a man with sores on his arm, who the other beggars do not accept, as they think he has leprosy. The beggars behave themselves when Viridiana is around, but they revert to their old ways as soon as she is gone.
Jorge says he does not like Viridiana's actions and is annoyed by her piety, but Luca thinks he is attracted to her and, also bored of the country, leaves. After noticing Ramona looking at him, Jorge seduces the maid.
When Viridiana and Jorge go to town on business and all of the servants are also away, the beggars break into Jorge's house. At first, they just want to look around, but they wind up having a drunken dinner party. Enedina has everyone pose on one side of the table, like in Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper', but she does not really have a camera. Everyone laughs, and Jos puts Handel's "Hallelujah" Chorus on the turntable and dances around in Jaime's wife's bridal veil and corset. Paco pulls Enedina behind a couch and begins to rape her, but, in their inebriated state, the others think the interaction is consensual. When Amalio, a blind man who is Enedina's jealous boyfriend, hears about what is happening, he says he will kill Paco and breaks all of the dishes on the table.
As there is now irreparable damage, most of the beggars flee the estate. They run into Jorge on their way out, and he surveys the destruction until "El Cojo" attacks him. Jos knocks Jorge out and Viridiana enters. El Cojo tries to rape her while Jos, who hopes to get "a turn", ties up Jorge. When Jorge awakens, he bribes Jos to kill El Cojo, saving Viridinia, who has fainted. Ramona returns with some police officers.
Viridiana lets her hair down and puts her crown of thorns, which she used to kneel in front of during her prayers, on a pile of waste to be burned. She goes to Jorge's bedroom and finds Ramona with him. He invites her to play cards and listen to some modern music, and, though she appears troubled, she complies. Jorge has both women sit down and deals the cards.
Censored ending
The Spanish board of censors rejected the original ending of the film, which depicted Viridiana entering Jorge's room and slowly closing the door behind her. A new ending was written and accepted that, according to some film historians, is even more debauched, if less explicit, than the first, as it implies a mnage trois consisting of Jorge, Ramona, and Viridiana.Buuel, Luis. 'My Last Sigh'. Trans. Abigail Israel. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. . page 237. The released version of the film ends with Jorge saying: "You know, the first time I saw you, I thought, 'My cousin and I will end up shuffling the deck together.'"Cast
* Silvia Pinal as Viridiana
* Francisco Rabal as Jorge, Don Jaime's illegitimate son
* Fernando Rey as Don Jaime, the widow of Viridiana's aunt
* Margarita Lozano as Ramona, Don Jaime's maid
* Victoria Zinny as Luca, Jorge's girlfriend
* Teresita Rabal as Rita, Ramona's young daughter
* Rosita Yarza as the mother superior at Viridiana's convent (uncredited)
* Francisco Ren as Moncho, the caretaker at Don Jaime's estate (uncredited)
* Alfonso Cordn as Ramn, the foreman of the crew Jorge hires to fix up the estate (uncredited)
* Manuel Alexandre as the peasant from whom Jorge buys a dog (uncredited)
* Jos Mara Lado as the mayor (uncredited)
;The Beggars
* Jos Calvo as Don Amalio, who is blind
* Jos Manuel Martn as "El Cojo" ("The Lame"), who has a bandaged foot and paints
* Luis Heredia as Manuel "El Poca" ("The Little"), an elderly man who is short and thin
* Joaqun Roa as Don Zequiel, a short, elderly man with a white beard
* Lola Gaos as Enedina, who has two small daughters and cooks
* Mara Isbert (credited as Maruja Isbert) as a woman who plays the guitar
* Juan Garca Tiendra as Jos "El Leproso" ("The Leper"), who has sores on his left forearm (uncredited)
* Milagros Toms as Refugio, who is pregnant (uncredited)
* Joaquin Mayol as Paco, who used to weave (uncredited)
* Palmira Guerra as "La Jardinera" ("The Gardener"), who gardens (uncredited)
* Alicia Jorge Barriga as "La Erona", who is a little person (uncredited)
* Sergio Mendizbal as "El Peln" ("The Bald"), who walks with a crutch and chooses not to come to the estate (uncredited)
Reception
While 'Viridiana' is regarded by many modern critics as a masterpiece, its initial reception was not so uniformly positive. It was sent by the Spanish cinematographic authority to the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or, but then 'L'Osservatore Romano', the official newspaper of the Vatican, described the film as "blasphemous", and the government of Francisco Franco banned its release in Spain. According to executive producer Pere Portabella, Spanish authorities tried to have the original negative burned, and it only survived because it was with a foreign company who had done some post-production work. The film was not released in Spain until 1977, two years after Franco's death, when Buuel was 77 years old. For his part, Buuel said he "didn't deliberately set out to be blasphemous, but then Pope John XXIII is a better judge of such things than I am".
The film won the Belgian Film Critics Association's Grand Prix, but Bosley Crowther of 'The New York Times' wrote:
In 2012, 'Viridiana' was voted the 37th greatest film of all time in the British Film Institute's 'Sight & Sound' directors' poll; it placed 110th in the critics' poll.
Home video
The film was released by The Criterion Collection in the United States and by Madman Entertainment in Australia (on the "Directors Suite" label) and New Zealand.
Notes
References
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