Viriditas
Viridiana: Buñuel, 1961
So many things have been said about this film, must have been said, that I am at a loss of what to say that could be worth reading.
I guess what fascinates me is the idea of people living such unique, idiosyncratic lives and the poetry of their struggle to survive in the real world. I can already sense that this article will feel fragmented. The beauty of this film is that Viridiana is so innocently absurd in a world that is terribly absurd. The difference is that she is on the other side of the fence of modernity. I guess you could call it a film from the fringes of modern society, from those few places where modernity is resisted and rejected by an entirely different world view. This is not a time for poets or for saints. The poets of today must be born from drug addicts, thieves and consumers, not at all hermits or saints.
Without going into detail, this is in the same spirit as Justine, but here the rape and abuse is not graphic, only implied. I mean violence to her moral self, to her soul, not to her body, violence to the way she interprets the world, to her interpretation of life and meaning. Ultimately, modernity is just as violent and empty as the Middle Ages. Society is hilariously insane because it pretends that human nature can fit in without breaking its bones. Watching this film as a triumph over conservative Spain is foolish.
I wonder how many people pretend to really understand art, pretend for their entire lives, as critics, as creators. How many won’t admit they don’t really understand and would rather indulge in a guilty pleasure. Maybe that is why this and all his films should be burnt. Does it sound like a surreal pose? I agree. But Buñuel said it towards the end of his life. Was it a joke? Does it matter? Better to be hungry, better to find the new, ancient revolutions. They are still there. Why waste time idealizing an artist? Do museums really make a difference? Burn them to the ground and start over. The heart of an artist must not be afraid to be a funeral pyre. Grab what you can from the ashes and start over.
