Viridiana (Luis Buñuel, 1961, Spain/Mexico)

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and regarded by many as Buñuel’s masterpiece, Viridiana was, nonetheless, awash in controversy for its sexual themes and provocations aimed at the Catholic Church. “I didn’t set out to be blasphemous,” said Buñuel, “but then Pope John XXIII is a better judge of such things than I am.” Young Viridiana (Silvia Pinal), on the eve of taking her final vows to become a nun, is ordered to visit her uncle (Fernando Rey), who lives in a rundown estate and who has paid for her education. Once there, the story takes a lurid turn with one sexual transgression after another, leading Viridiana to question her faith and the limits of her idealism. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco tried to have the negative and all prints destroyed, and the film was not released in Spain until 1977, two years after his death. In Spanish with English subtitles. (90 mins., 4K DCP)

See the entire A Summer Abroad: International Film Classics lineup.