Review of Viridiana (1962) by Jared F — 06 Aug 2007

Bunuel always sought to stir up a little controversy. Throughout his work, his distaste for Christian ritual runs as a prevailing theme. This distaste got him a fair bit of trouble from the church.

Viridiana is another scathing indictment of faith and religion. Viridiana, on the verge of becoming a nun, visits her uncle who had never shown her any great affection throughout life but had paid for her education. He is on the verge of death. He seeks to rob her of innocence and by extension, of her faith. There's this wonderful scene here of Viridiana sleepwalking and placing ash on her uncle's bed. She later explains that Ash is a symbol of both death and of piousness. More-so, I think, it's used here to symbolize the death of piousness. Interesting too that the ash is placed on his bed where he later attempts to take advantage of her.

She looks then to find faith in the poor. Before her, they're pious, but when she's gone, those airs have dissipated and they're shown for their true corruption. And so this is a statement on the church itself. It's a criticism on their two-faced policies. For Viridiana, once she sees how people are corrupt all over she learns to accept the corruption. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And so she indulges in a sinful game of cards.

One must keep in mind the time this film was released. Fresh out of the 50s, the world still had a don't ask, don't tell philosophy. Christianity and the moral majority still ruled much of the world. This was on the very fringe of the counter-cultural movements of the time. And for such a blatant attack on religion, this film could only stir up controversy amongst a sheltered public.

It's a great work. A daring statement for a world about to become disenchanted with a corrupt "moral majority." But it's not merely message. Bunuel always had a strong eye for visuals. Personally, I was reminded often of Ingmar Bergman while watching this. The careful attention to interplay of light and dark, the slavish eye for the golden ratio. The visuals are alive with technical prowess.

I won't say this is Bunuel's finest. But it's certainly the most approachable of any film I've yet seen by him. I think he did that to appeal to the wider audience who had missed all these messages in his early works.