VIRIDIANA (1961)

As Viridiana is about to take her vows to become a nun, the Mother Superior suggests that she take time to visit her sick uncle, Don Jaime, who has financially taken care of her for years. She has little affection for her uncle though she never says why. She also has no taste for the physical—at her uncle's house, she sleeps on the floor on a bed of thorns and can't bring herself to milk her uncle's cows. For his part, Don Jaime clearly lusts after Viridiana. He tells her that she looks like his wife, who died on their wedding night. On the last night of her visit, he gets her to put on his wife's wedding dress, then he drugs her coffee and carries her to bed, intending to rape her. He doesn't go through with it, but the next morning he tells her she's no longer a virgin and should give up on taking her vows. She goes to leave anyway, but in short order, her uncle commits suicide, hanging himself with a jump rope; she inherits the farm portion of his estate and decides to stay; and Don Jaime's bastard son Jorge arrives to take over the main house. He brings a girlfriend who leaves when she sees that Jorge has eyes for Viridiana, but a servant named Ramona has eyes for Jorge. To commit herself to Christian work despite not taking her vows, Viridiana opens up her part of the house to a flock of beggars, including a leper, but soon they have taken full advantage of her kindness and one drunken night while Jorge is gone, they occupy the main dining room and have a debauched feast, accompanied by the "Hallelujah Chorus" and climaxing with a parodic shot of the beggars reenacting Da Vinci's Last Supper. The beggars tie up Jorge when he returns and one tries to rape Viridiana. In the end, the police arrive to break things up, and in the last scene, Viridiana seems to have given up all thoughts of piety. She enters Jorge's room where he is playing cards with Ramona. She joins them as a pop song says, "Shake your cares away" and Jorge says, "The first time I saw you, I thought, my cousin and I will end up shuffling the deck together."

You can use Google to gather background on the anti-clerical director Luis Bunuel and the reception of this film in Spain (long story short: government censors passed the film until they realized how much it was mocking Christianity). For all the controversy this stirred up back in the day, the film actually seems relatively mild now until the final near-orgy. Even then, the problem isn't so much any graphic visualization as it is the mocking of both the poor and the church that claims to want to help them. Characterization is not Bunuel's strong point here as the proceedings are largely symbolic, but the performances are nicely fleshed out. The gorgeous Silvia Pinal anchors the movie with her strong but subtle performance. Very little that happens causes any change in Viridiana's placid exterior, right up to and including the conclusion. Fernando Rey (the uncle) and the handsome Francisco Rabal (Jorge) are effective as the two debauched males. The original ending, which was objectionable to the censors, had Viridiana entering Jorge's bedroom and closing the door. This approved ending, however, is even more salacious as it promises not just extramarital sex but a threesome. Pictured are Rabal and Pinal. [TCM]