Criterion Challenge 2022 | 27/52 | Made in Mexico
Don't worry, miss. We're all decent folks.
The convent bells ring. The Mother Superior calls for Viridiana to inform her that her uncle, Don Jaime, will not come to see her take her vows. He is in poor health, and the Mother Superior suggests she say her final goodbyes to him before becoming a nun. Though Viridiana does not wish to see the outside world again, she obeys her Mother Superior’s wishes. Viridiana arrives at Don Jaime’s decrepit mansion, where he lives with his servant, Ramona, and Ramona’s daughter, Rita. Don Jaime comments on how Viridiana resembles her aunt and his late wife, down to her walk and voice.
One night, Don Jaime opens a dresser at the end of his bed, where he keeps his wife’s wedding dress and veil. He tries on the shoes and wraps the corset around himself before Viridiana passes through. Sleepwalking, she throws her knitting in the fire and fills the basket with ash from the fire. She pours the ash on his bed and wanders back to her room.
Viridiana’s final day comes. Don Jaime asks if she could wear her aunt’s wedding dress. She says no, but she reluctantly goes through with it. Don Jaime then asks her to marry him and never leave the house. The question horrifies Viridiana, but Don Jaime puts on music and offers her a coffee. Viridiana reluctantly takes the coffee, which Don Jaime has drugged. Rita watches from the shadows as Don Jaime takes the passed-out Viridiana to the bedroom.
Don Jaime’s plot to possess Viridiana takes dark and strange turns. It is impossible to predict where it will lead, but it involves Don Jaime’s illegitimate son, Jorge, and a band of beggars.
The film is difficult to parse. It feels like a morality tale, but it doesn’t seem to condone or condemn anyone in particular. Everyone makes choices—even with the best intentions, those choices might be mistakes or not have the whole picture in mind.
For example, Jorge sees a cart pass with a dog tied to the wheel. The dog cannot stop when the cart is moving, or else it chokes. So, Jorge purchases the dog to save it. The dog wishes to return to its original owner but cannot. And when they walk off, another cart passes with another dog tied underneath.
Similarly, Viridiana wishes to help a group of beggars by offering them a place to stay. In doing so, she exemplifies Christian charity, but she also reduces these people to entities that she can control—obey my rules, and I will care for you. This occurs in tandem with Jorge’s work to renovate the crumbling mansion.
In this way, Viridiana and Jorge both represent shortsightedness. Jorge is only concerned with his own material interests and finds it foolish to care about anyone else’s needs but his own. Viridiana is doing a good deed, but all while living alongside Jorge. It is like a shantytown next to a renovated downtown center—who does this help?
Some people read the film to suggest that you should never show charity to anyone because people are animals. While I can certainly see that perspective, I think it misses the movie in total. This movie is one I’ll have to revisit and consider more because I still feel like I only scratched the surface.
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