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Don Jamie, who has had the unfortunate luck to have his wife
die on their wedding night, pays for his niece Viridiana's
education as a nun. But before she enters the convent for
the last time as a fully-fledged nun he insists that she visit
him. When he sees that she bears a striking resemblance to
his dead wife he becomes determined to corrupt and posses
her...
Viridiana
(1961) is another of Luis Brunel's scathing attacks on
the bourgeoisie, a favourite target for his criticism. It
is difficult to understand today the extreme reaction that
the film received on its release. Condemned by the Vatican,
and Spain's dictator Franco, for what they saw as heretical
at best, blasphemous at worst, their stance helped to fuel
the notoriety of the film. Of course, not everyone took such
a parochial view and it won The Golden Palm at the Cannes
Film Festival that year.
One
of the things which work so well, and I'm sure the reason
that the Vatican took such offence, was not Viridiana's
lack of faith, but rather her complete and total adherence
to the tenets of the Catholic church. Though it is a type
of piety, which would make a fladulant squeal with delight,
she carries a crown of thorns with her - go figure. Now this
should sound like a Catholic recruiting campaign, until she
is exposed to the realities of the world. It is not only Dom
Jamie's lust, which bring into question her behaviour and
beliefs, but also the duplicity of the people she tries to
help.
The
story is a tragicomedy with the odd element of unintentional
farce. When the farm boy gets her to milk the cow it's obvious,
to the audience, the intention in the boy's mind. Even after
The Don kills himself, following an abortive attempt to drug
and rape his niece, and she takes over the house, her naivety
of filling it with ungrateful beggars is extraordinary to
the audience. In this it works like an inverse morality play.
Good does not triumph; rather Viridiana's form of virulent
Christianity is shown not to work in the face of the reality
of the human condition, sometimes it's not enough just to
have a good heart.
The only character whose aspirations aren't completely trodden
into the mud is the Dons son Jorge (Francisco Rabal) who after
not only taking on the task of looking after the estate with
Viridiana, but also rescuing her from a possible fate worse
than death has a much more realistic idea of human relationships.
The
cast remain delightful throughout the film. Unfortunately
the same cannot be said of the print quality which, whilst
never so bad as to spoil the film, remains variable. Audio
is mono and the film is presented in 4.3 black and white.
The
film is a worthy addition to any film lover's collection,
and to be honest it does not feel as controversial as it once
might have - though I don't think that they will be showing
it in the Vatican any time soon.
Charles
Packer
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