Viridiana is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridiana resembles his dead wife. Viridiana has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridiana becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.0/10
Letterboxd: 4.10/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Luis Buñuel
Production
Unión Industrial Cinematográfica, Films 59, Producciones Gustavo Alatriste
Cast
Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey, José Calvo, Margarita Lozano, Victoria Zinny, Teresa Rabal, Luis Heredia, Joaquín Roa, José Manuel Martín, Lola Gaos, Juan García Tiendra, Sergio Mendizábal, María Isbert, Claudio Brook, Narciso Ojeda, José María Lado, Rosita Yarza
Where to watch
Darkroom
Curator Review
Verdict
A savage, formally elegant attack on religious hypocrisy, class privilege, and self-righteous virtue. Viridiana is provocative, funny, and cruel in equal measure, with Buñuel turning a pious premise into one of cinema’s sharpest moral nightmares.
Best for
Viewers who like satirical, anti-clerical cinema
Fans of surrealist or allegorical drama
People interested in classic European art cinema
Audiences drawn to films about faith, guilt, and hypocrisy
Skip if
You want a straightforward religious drama
You prefer emotionally reassuring or redemptive stories
You dislike irony, blasphemous provocation, or moral ambiguity
You need fast pacing or conventional plot resolution
Overview
Viridiana is one of Buñuel’s most ruthless films, and that ruthlessness is the point. It begins with the language of sanctity and charity, then steadily exposes how fragile those ideals become when they collide with desire, power, and social reality. The result is less a story about a fallen novice than a demolition of moral vanity itself.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is the precision of the filmmaking. Buñuel stages each turn with a dry, almost mischievous calm, so the shocks land harder and the satire cuts deeper. The film’s famous provocations are not just scandal for scandal’s sake; they are part of a larger attack on institutions that mistake appearances for virtue.
Bottom line
It’s a challenging watch, but also a rewarding one if you like cinema that argues with you. Beneath the outrage is a bleakly comic sense of human weakness, and a director who understands that hypocrisy often wears the face of goodness.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Scumbalina (5★) · 1263 likes
Viridiana isn't a good person. She's barely a person. She may seem virtuous and humble but at the core there's a self-righteousness that's prideful and disgusting. Bunuel was a known Anti-Catholic. It's not in the subtext but in the overtures. At the surface, Viridiana is about a nun falling from the grace of God, but it's the characters around her who are pure. While Viridiana is busy isolating her thoughts, human animals are living in God's image. Unnecessary Shame compels… more Viridiana isn't a good person. She's barely a person. She may seem virtuous and humble but at the core there's a self-righteousness that's prideful and disgusting. Bunuel was a known Anti-Catholic. It's not in the subtext but in the overtures. At the surface, Viridiana is about a nun falling from the grace of God, but it's the characters around her who are pure. While Viridiana is busy isolating her thoughts, human animals are living in God's image. Unnecessary Shame compels… more
dan (4★) · 529 likes
i think he don't really like the rich and religion i'm not sure
ScreeningNotes (5★) · 441 likes
Catching Up with Buñuel
"I went through a great shock, I am only trying to recover."
Such a deeply cynical film that you can feel Buñuel's hatred for the fascist Franco dictatorship in the very texture of every frame. The world itself is a test of Viridiana's faith, continually confronting her with the darkest depths of humanity's sinful depravity, rewarding her conviction with nothing but more hardship, asking at every turn, "What about now? Do you still believe?" How is… more
Edgar Cochran ✝️🍋 (5★) · 285 likes
***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***
SPANISH REVIEW:
Ser un personal admirador de Luis Buñuel conlleva, de alguna manera, demasiada responsabilidad en cuanto a admiración artística y estética se refiere. Prohibida en España y totalmente denunciada por el Vaticano, Viridiana es una de las mejores películas española de todos los tiempos, una coproducción escandalosa con México que alude al despertar del espiritualismo del ser humano y referencia las emociones más controversiales que una persona, independientemente de… more
Edwin 🦦 (4.5★) · 232 likes
It’s really no surprise that Viridiana was banned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican when it first premiered. Luis Buñuel was never shy about his anti-Catholic views, and this movie feels like a direct confrontation with the institution. He builds a world where faith is constantly tested in uncomfortable ways. You can feel how deeply he questions the idea of moral purity, especially when it’s placed into a world that doesn’t operate on fairness or grace. It’s challenging religion… more It’s really no surprise that Viridiana was banned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican when it first premiered. Luis Buñuel was never shy about his anti-Catholic views, and this movie feels like a direct confrontation with the institution. He builds a world where faith is constantly tested in uncomfortable ways. You can feel how deeply he questions the idea of moral purity, especially when it’s placed into a world that doesn’t operate on fairness or grace. It’s challenging religion… more