Viridiana
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Synopsis
Banned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican upon its premiere, Luis Buñuel’s irreverent vision of life as a beggar’s banquet is regarded by many as his masterpiece. In it, novice nun Viridiana (Silvia Pinal) does her utmost to maintain her Catholic principles, but her lecherous uncle (Fernando Rey) and a motley assemblage of paupers force her to confront the limits of her idealism. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, Viridiana is as audacious today as ever.
Picture 8/10
The Criterion Collection upgrades Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana from DVD to 4K UHD, presenting the film in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 on a dual-layer BD-66 disc with an SDR 2160p/24hz ultra high-definition presentation. It is sourced from a new 4K restoration conducted by Mercury Films and derived (primarily) from the 35mm original camera negative. A standard dual-layer Blu-ray is also included featuring the film’s supplements alongside a 1080p presentation sourced from the same restoration.
Though Criterion’s 4K edition for the director’s Él was hindered by less-than-ideal source materials, I had higher expectations for Viridiana, at least based on Radiance’s excellent Blu-ray that used the same source restoration, and those expectations have pretty much been met. Though Radiance’s Blu-ray already looked exceptional, thanks primarily to a terrific encode, Criterion’s 4K does manage to better it enough that the upgrade may prove worthwhile. The increased resolution helps render the film’s fairly fine grain structure while also pulling out a bit more detail, especially in finer patterns and textures. It also manages to deliver a little more range and nuance in the grayscale despite the lack of HDR.
The restoration work, as first evident in Radiance’s presentation, still looks wonderful, with much of the heavier damage now removed. Though there are some frame shifts and bits of flicker here and there, the materials were obviously in better shape than what Él had to offer, and nothing all that major remains, outside of a somewhat rough opening credit sequence and a one-minute-or-so portion about ten minutes in. At this point, the image makes a jarring jump in quality, cutting to what looks to be a later-generation theatrical print with narrower contrast, messy grain, and more evident damage. When it cuts to the next shot, the presentation returns to the near-pristine condition teased before. It should be noted that this has been the case for every presentation of the film I’ve seen, with it also being evident in Radiance’s edition and even Criterion’s old DVD. It simply ends up feeling far more noticeable this time around, which could just be the increased resolution of 4K making the shift more obvious. I’m not sure why this is the case, but since the scene has always looked this way I have to assume this is simply all that survives for this small section.
Past that the presentation looks really great, delivering a stronger, more photographic image overall.
Viridiana - Screen Captures
Audio 6/10
The monaural Spanish soundtrack is delivered in lossless single-channel PCM. Music can occasionally sound a little rough, possibly due to the elements it was sourced from, but dialogue comes through quite well, offering ample range and clarity. Damage also does not appear to be an issue. All told, it sounds great.
Extras 5/10
Though Criterion does add the re-release trailer (alongside the original trailer that appeared on the DVD), no significant new material has been included, the label instead choosing to port over everything from their earlier edition. That includes 37 minutes of excerpts from a 1964 episode of Cinéastes de notre temps, featuring conversations with Buñuel and several of his friends and family. Though the program would have aired after Viridiana’s official release, it doesn’t really mention the film and instead focuses on his earlier life and work, along with the trouble he would get into with the Church and others over those earlier films. This includes his move to Paris and his involvement with the Surrealist group that included André Breton, Man Ray, Max Ernst (who also appears in the program), and others, followed by his eventual collaboration with Salvador Dalí (Un chien andalou and L’âge d’or, the latter of which was banned in France at the time this program aired). Él also comes up, with the director defending the film as both universal in its themes (not just specific to Spain) and funny.
It’s a good inclusion, though it’s odd Criterion chose not to include the version Radiance presented, which was the full episode. The additional footage isn’t a huge loss; it consists mostly of clips from his films that Criterion has excised. That said, Radiance’s presentation was better, coming from a newer high-definition source, while Criterion reuses the standard-definition master from their DVD.
Criterion also includes two interviews recorded in 2006 for that earlier edition, one featuring actor Silvia Pinal (running 14 minutes) and the other with film scholar Richard Porton (running 13 minutes). Pinal recalls how she eventually came to work with Buñuel and how her husband helped finance Viridiana, all so she could collaborate with the filmmaker. She then touches on the controversy surrounding Buñuel returning to Spain to make the film under Franco’s rule, as well as the uproar that erupted after the film was finished (and ultimately smuggled out of Spain). Porton covers much of this as well, also noting how the controversy only increased the film’s visibility, creating something of a Streisand Effect, after first discussing the film’s surrealist elements (including the sexual fantasies and fetishistic imagery) and how they stem from Buñuel’s early relationship with the Surrealists. He also links the film to what he considers an informal trilogy alongside The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert.
Both interviews remain strong additions, though Radiance’s batch of extras is ultimately the better of the two releases, particularly thanks to their commentary by Michael Brooke. I always like it when Criterion revisits their past releases, but it would have been nice if they had also added some new material.
Closing
Though Criterion again opts not to update the supplements, the new 4K presentation looks absolutely terrific.
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