Viridiana is famous and important for a few different reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it's the film that Luis Bunuel chose to make after returning from a twenty-year self imposed exile in Mexico. Franco's government allowed a few artists back into the country, Bunuel being one of them, and encouraged them to create but it's rather unlikely that they expected to get anything even remotely close to this film, which explains why once it debuted it was subsequently banned thanks to no small amount of pressure from the Catholic Church.

The film tells the story of a virtuous nun named Viridiana (played extremely effectively by Silvia Pinal) who is sent off by the powers that be to go pay a visit to her eccentric and aging uncle. Upon her arrival she's greeted by some truly bizarre behavior and it soon comes to pass that he and his servant, Ramona, are working together to keep her from going back to the convent. His attraction to his niece becoming more and more obvious, he decides to put the moves on her but at the last minute he chickens out, showing some semblance of a conscience and causing Viridiana to flee. Before she can make it back to the convent, however, she's pick up by the police and brought back to her uncle's estate which she is now part owner of. He killed himself, overcome with grief for his horrible behavior, and left all of his possessions to Viridiana and Jorge, his illegitimate son.

Viridiana stays true to her vows and opts to use the home as a hostel for the less fortunate and the homeless people that populate the area. Jorge, on the other hand, grabs his new found freedom by the reigns and moves his girlfriend in with him. Viridiana tries to get some of the homeless people that she's helped to take on some of the duties around the house but they simply laugh at her, content to let her carry the bulk of the burden on her own. When Viridiana and Jorge head into town one day, the vagrants take advantage of the situation and throw a raging party, attempting to take advantage of Viridiana upon her return. Thankfully Jorge steps in but things don't end the way one would imagine they do and it all gets very twisted and strange by the time the closing of the film arrives.

While on the surface the narrative for the film is deceptively simple, there's a lot more to this movie than the simple tale of a woman who tried to do the right thing and got hosed for it. Bunuel allows things to build, culminating in a fantastic last act wherein the blasphemy and madness of many of the supporting characters comes full circle and manifests itself in one final blast of depravity. While nothing is overtly explicit, the finale still packs quite a punch and the mix of truly black humor and fantastic cinematography has quite the lasting effect on the viewer.

Pinal carries the film well, her performance standing out and her screen presence bringing a sense of naïve class to the picture. She surrounds herself with those she can feel superior to and her interaction with them bounces back and forth between genuine kindness and the sort of condescending attitude a Sunday school teacher might have with a class of rowdy children. Her character makes an interesting contrast to Jorge, who eschews the values of the church and is instead true to himself. Interesting then that he should be the hero at the end of the film considering the moral that the film carries (that being, at its core, to simply be yourself and not what society, government or church would dictate you be).

In the end, Viridiana is a very clever film and a very subversive one at that. It plays around with symbolism and subverts a lot of expectations when you dig a little deeper and explore what lies beneath the surface of the film. Bunuel made a lot of great films and Viridiana stands alongside the best of them.

Video:

The 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen black and white image isn't perfect but it is quite good. There's some obvious bright level boosting present in a few scenes and some mild print damage present in a couple of spots but thankfully there aren't any mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues to note. Fine detail in both the foreground and the background of the image is strong and contrast looks spot on. If not for the print damage, this would surely rank higher. Regardless, the picture is consistent and strong and is overall of very nice quality.