Viridiana

Viridiana (1962) is a Luis Buñuel drama you can watch online on iFILM. Days before taking her vows, a young novice visits an uncle she barely knows — and the trip quietly dismantles everything she believes about her own goodness.

Old, widowed Don Jaime sees his dead wife in the girl, and his hospitality curdles into something far less paternal. After one shattering night at the estate, Viridiana abandons the convent and decides to do good her own way, gathering a household of beggars, cripples and drunks to shelter under her charity. Silvia Pinal plays the would-be saint, Fernando Rey her uncle, and Francisco Rabal the cynical cousin who watches her piety with a smirk.

Buñuel made this Spanish-Mexican production after long years in exile, and Franco's Spain let it through before quickly regretting it. The film took the top prize at Cannes, then got banned at home, with the Vatican branding it blasphemous — not least for a beggars' feast staged as a grinning parody of The Last Supper. It's cold, mean and still uncomfortable, a swipe at sanctimonious charity from a director who lets no one off the hook. For anyone ready for hard European cinema without a single saint in it. Stream Viridiana (1962) online on iFILM.