EL aka THIS STRANGE PASSION (1953)

During a symbolic foot-washing ceremony at a church in Mexico City (probably for Maundy Thursday during Easter week), the wealthy Francisco catches the eye of the lovely Gloria. Actually, it's her feet in high heels that we first see as the camera pans across the feet being washed by the priest. A spark is ignited and the two encounter each other again later at church. She's engaged to Raul, a friend of Francisco's, but is won over by Francisco's attentions, even though he compares love at first sight to being hit by a poisoned arrow, and marries him. He is charming but inflexible; two things we learn about him early on are that he is engaged in a years-long legal struggle to get back some family land, and when his butler assaults a maid, Francisco fires the maid. After the marriage, we briefly jump forward in time a few years. Gloria sees Raul and tells him how miserable her life is, and starts a flashback to the last few years. Though Francisco is still well-regarded by his friends and by the parish priest, he is neurotically jealous and paranoid—even on their wedding night, he accuses Gloria of thinking of Raul when they kiss—keeping Gloria mostly locked up in the large, bizarrely styled and well-appointed house. His idea of taking her out for a good time is not to go to the movies or a racetrack, but to a cathedral where he takes her to the bell tower and, in an unmotivated fit, tries to throw her to the ground. When he thinks she's flirting with a new young lawyer, he viciously beats her. A pattern of violent paranoia followed by abject apology goes on for years. Raul is horrified and befriends her. When Francisco thinks he sees Gloria and Raul meeting for a romantic assignation at a church, he has a breakdown which finally ends Gloria's torment.

This film by director Luis Bunuel is a festival of psychological and sexual peccadilloes. As well-adjusted as Francisco appears on the surface and to the people around him, he is clearly a sick man. He's a puritanical virgin when he meets Gloria, and some critics imply that he may be impotent. In a most bizarre scene, he enters Gloria's room at night, apparently intending to sew her vagina shut though he doesn't. The penultimate scene is equally strange. When he enters the church and finds out that the couple he has followed is not Gloria and Raul, he hallucinates that the congregation and the priest are laughing at him. Gloria does not escape some judgment. Though Francisco spends some time gaslighting her, even turning her mother against her, it is odd that she doesn't try to leave him sooner. Even Raul notes that but also that she may actually enjoy suffering. The movie has a great Gothic feel and the acting is top notch, with Arturo de Cordova (pictured) both hateful and charismatic as Francisco, Delia Garces both sniveling and strong as Gloria, and Luis Beristain as the long-suffering Raul. The ending is a bit strange but satisfying. [Criterion Channel]