Viridiana
Luis Buñuel
As she is preparing to take her vows, Viridiana, a young novice, goes to visit her uncle Don Jaime. He has a burning desire for his niece, seeing in her a morbid memory of his late wife. One night, after he has drugged her, he tries to possess her. But he is filled with remorse and commits suicide. Viridiana's life is turned upside down and she decides not to return to the convent...
With : Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey, Margarita Lozano, Victoria Zinny, Teresa Rabal, José Calvo, Luis Heredia, Joaquín Roa, José Manuel Martin, Lola Gaos, Juan García Tienda, Maruja Isbert
Screenplay : Luis Buñuel, Julio Alejandro
Image : José F. Aguayo
Sound : Aurelio García Tijeras
Music : Sélection de Gustavo Pittaluga
Editing : Luis Buñuel, Pedro del Rey
Screenplay : Luis Buñuel, Julio Alejandro
Image : José F. Aguayo
Sound : Aurelio García Tijeras
Music : Sélection de Gustavo Pittaluga
Editing : Luis Buñuel, Pedro del Rey
Production : Gustavo Alatriste, Unincifilms
Viridiana marks Buñuel's controversial return to his native land. Viridiana is the result of the first collaboration between Buñuel and the producer Gustavo Alatriste, and would seal a friendship between the two men that would be at the origin of several major friends. The producer gave the director carte blanche, enabling him to give free rein to his adolescent fantasies: "My friend Julio Alejandro helped me develop an old erotic dream, where I abused the Queen of Spain thanks to a drug". The theme of faith, observed here through the prism of fantasy, raised several controversies, and led to the film being banned in Spain during the Francist period. To the accusations of treason made by exiled Republicans, Buñuel replied brilliantly: unsubdued by Francist authority, Viridiana gives a portrait of a disillusioned "Don Quixote in skirts" which won the Palme d'Or are the 1961 Cannes Film Festival.