Although it was the joint-winner of the Palme D'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, "Viridiana" also achieved a certain amount of notoriety because it was considered by the Vatican to be blasphemous and was banned in Spain for 26 years. Its story describes the circumstances that lead to a young nun losing her idealism, her commitment to the Catholic Church and her naivete about various aspects of the real world and human nature itself. The experiences that she goes through, in a relatively short space of time, affect her profoundly and change her life forever.
Viridiana (Silvia Pinal) is the young nun who, shortly before taking her final vows, is ordered by her mother superior to visit her rich uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey). Although they hadn't had any contact for years, Don Jaime had consistently provided for Viridiana and so she dutifully follows her instructions and goes to visit her benefactor at his rather run-down rural estate.
Don Jaime soon tells her how closely she resembles his late wife who died of a heart attack on their wedding night and on one of the subsequent nights, asks her to wear his late wife's wedding dress. Although she's uncomfortable about complying with this request, she reluctantly agrees because she feels she owes him something. Things get even creepier however, when she's told that he'd like to marry her and Don Jaime's loyal servant Ramona (Margarita Lozano) drugs her coffee before Don Jaime carries her unconscious to a bedroom with the intention of raping her. He doesn't actually go through with the act but next day tells her that she's been changed forever and she decides to leave immediately. She doesn't get very far though, before being summoned back to the estate because Don Jaime has committed suicide.
Don Jaime's illegitimate son Jorge (Francisco Rabal) and Viridiana become the joint beneficiaries of the estate and after Jorge moves into the mansion with his mistress Lucia (Victoria Zinny), Viridiana also decides to stay there and gathers up a group of local beggars that she invites to live in one of the buildings on the estate in return for doing some work. Lucia soon leaves when she recognises that Jorge has designs on Viridiana and a little while later, he and Ramona have a fling. When the joint owners of the estate have to leave briefly to attend to some business, the beggars take advantage by breaking into the mansion and feasting and drinking heavily before vandalising the place. When they return home, Viridiana is assaulted by a couple of the beggars and soon becomes totally disillusioned by everything that's happened and finally reconciles herself to living in, what she now recognises as, the real world.
Luis Bunuel who directed and co-wrote this movie, asserts throughout that lust, greed, corruption and cruelty are fundamental to the real world and that idealism and charity are futile and will always be exploited. Despite the deeply cynical nature of this message, "Viridiana" is made palatable and extremely enjoyable to watch because of the way in which its story works on more than one level and also features significant amounts of black humour. Its most famous scene arrives when the partying beggars appear to spontaneously recreate Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" in a tableau that drew criticism from the Vatican for being blasphemous.
"Viridiana" is an undeniably thought-provoking piece and its entire cast does a good job of making all of the characters interesting and memorable for a variety of reasons.
Viridiana (Silvia Pinal) is the young nun who, shortly before taking her final vows, is ordered by her mother superior to visit her rich uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey). Although they hadn't had any contact for years, Don Jaime had consistently provided for Viridiana and so she dutifully follows her instructions and goes to visit her benefactor at his rather run-down rural estate.
Don Jaime soon tells her how closely she resembles his late wife who died of a heart attack on their wedding night and on one of the subsequent nights, asks her to wear his late wife's wedding dress. Although she's uncomfortable about complying with this request, she reluctantly agrees because she feels she owes him something. Things get even creepier however, when she's told that he'd like to marry her and Don Jaime's loyal servant Ramona (Margarita Lozano) drugs her coffee before Don Jaime carries her unconscious to a bedroom with the intention of raping her. He doesn't actually go through with the act but next day tells her that she's been changed forever and she decides to leave immediately. She doesn't get very far though, before being summoned back to the estate because Don Jaime has committed suicide.
Don Jaime's illegitimate son Jorge (Francisco Rabal) and Viridiana become the joint beneficiaries of the estate and after Jorge moves into the mansion with his mistress Lucia (Victoria Zinny), Viridiana also decides to stay there and gathers up a group of local beggars that she invites to live in one of the buildings on the estate in return for doing some work. Lucia soon leaves when she recognises that Jorge has designs on Viridiana and a little while later, he and Ramona have a fling. When the joint owners of the estate have to leave briefly to attend to some business, the beggars take advantage by breaking into the mansion and feasting and drinking heavily before vandalising the place. When they return home, Viridiana is assaulted by a couple of the beggars and soon becomes totally disillusioned by everything that's happened and finally reconciles herself to living in, what she now recognises as, the real world.
Luis Bunuel who directed and co-wrote this movie, asserts throughout that lust, greed, corruption and cruelty are fundamental to the real world and that idealism and charity are futile and will always be exploited. Despite the deeply cynical nature of this message, "Viridiana" is made palatable and extremely enjoyable to watch because of the way in which its story works on more than one level and also features significant amounts of black humour. Its most famous scene arrives when the partying beggars appear to spontaneously recreate Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" in a tableau that drew criticism from the Vatican for being blasphemous.
"Viridiana" is an undeniably thought-provoking piece and its entire cast does a good job of making all of the characters interesting and memorable for a variety of reasons.