Buñuel: Viridiana, Part 2

Here's a woven snippet from Roger Ebert's take (of April 29, 2010) on Luis Buñuel's Viridiana (1961), quoted here because it's so right on:

I can't think of a more mischievous filmmaker than Luis
Buñuel . . . He is one of the great originals, creator of satirical delight, sometimes hilarious funny, and if you love great movies you sooner or later get to him. . . A film like this is bracing. It is made by a strong, individual mind. (See http://www.rogerebert.com/).

Looking at Buñuel's entire body of work, there's a clear and expansive continuity of vision and perspective. More specifically, Viridiana is very close in scope to his Diary of a Chambermaid (1964).

Finally, as Ebert notes, Viridiana It "is not another marked-down version of comforting feel-good lies" such as those offered by so many early 21st century movies. One recent American film that does look directly and with stark clarity at social psychology and manners, the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man (2009), does so by inverting the soryline of Viridiana, centering on the plight of a loyal if feckless family man rather those on the margins. That perspective, too, is interesting and effective.

Today's Rune:  Flow.