Film Forum

Spain, 1961
Directed by Luis Buñuel
Starring Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey
WINNER Cannes Film Festival – Palme d’Or, 1961
Approx. 90 min. 4K DCP.

About-to-be-cloistered nun Silvia Pinal goes for one last visit to reclusive uncle Fernando Rey (Buñuel regular and FRENCH CONNECTION heavy)—but there's a perfectly fitting wedding dress and a crucifix/switchblade in store. Marking his triumphant return to filmmaking in Franco's Spain, Buñuel's anti-clerical classic was a sensation at Cannes, where it won the Palme d'Or—to the Generalissimo’s acute embarrassment. It was not shown in Spain until 1977, nearly two years after the dictator's death. 

Presented with support from The Robert E. Appel Fund for Spanish and Portuguese Language Films and The Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film

A JANUS FILMS RELEASE

Trailer

Reviews

“I can’t think of a more mischievous filmmaker than Luis Buñuel... He is one of the great originals, creator of satirical delight, sometimes hilariously funny, and if you love great movies you sooner or later get to him.”
– Roger Ebert

“A masterpiece… marked Buñuel’s rebirth as a filmmaker of international repute.”
– Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

“Buñuel's rhythmic sense builds the orgy like a bolero. He [has] the outlook of a collegiate idealist who has just discovered venality and lust... a logical extension of the career of a man who began by slitting a girl's eyeball with a razor.”
 – Stanley Kauffmann