"I can't take my eyes off of you." Don Jaime
☆☆☆☆☆ Masterpiece
Viridiana (1961) is a virtuoso cinematic exploration of the duality of man and life.
Directed by Luis Buñuel.
Starring Silvia Pinal, Fernando Rey and Francisco Rabal among many others.
Buñuel is for me the quintessential maverick filmmaker. From Luis' first surrealist short film with Salvador Dali, Un Chien Andalou (1929) to his last film That Obscure Object of Desire, Buñuel never wavered from his iconoclastic, revolutionary filmmaking. Viewers of Luis' films are rewarded with a vast and varied oeuvre of masterpieces of celluloid. In Viridiana, Buñuel explores the duality of man and nature in a straight forward, non-surrealist fashion. On the one hand Luis shows us the face that every man and woman puts forward, on the other you see what lurks behind those men and women as life unfolds for them. Buñuel shows his characters and presents their stories in a non judgmental and humorous way. Characters are put into sticky situations and we get to see not only how they react to their predicament but how they change. Luis is like a lawyer who let's a judge pass judgement over their clients actions allows the viewers to come to their own conclusions on his characters and their actions within the story.
In the scene below carefully watch the dog on the opposite cart. Buñuel is playing with his audience to get them to pay attention to life's duality. The narcissistic, illegitimate son does a good deed and Luis shows through another passing dog tied to the back of a similar cart that life is not so simple. There are an endless parade of helpless creatures to save. Enjoy!
Trivia - Script originally approved by Spanish authorities, completed film banned by them and denounced by Vatican after winning Palme d'Or at films first screening.
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