Fourth film in Mexican lands of the enormous Aragonese filmmaker Luis Buñuel, a work in certain aspects atypical, but that continues carrying many of the main directives of a director who had already assimilated the form to make cinema in Aztec lands, but that was in uncertainty on the results of his great work, the previous year
Los Olvidados (The Young and the Damned), which was not yet released. Without working on this occasion with the famous Alcoriza scriptwriter spouses, the director draws a story that is based on a story by Manuel Reachi, about the disturbing adventures of an attractive young woman, of dark and uncertain past, whose severe addiction to carnality will make her seducing successively every man who crosses his path, powerfully altering the harmony that reigned in the home where, ignorant of the past and the inclinations of the girl, she was received. Many times cataloged as inferior work, minor work within the filmography of the giant Spanish director, I consider that the picture has many positive aspects, while the filmmaker managed to impregnate his film with a very personal seal, returning to work with Fernando Soler, as he did in
El Gran Calavera (The Great Madcap (1949)). The actress selected to give life to Susana is Rosita Quintana, certainly an imposition, being the wife of one of the producers. A very interesting work of the Iberian artist.
The story begins in a stormy night, in a reformatory, where a young woman, an attractive woman who is being held there, escapes. Then we see a family, they all live with calm and happiness, the landowner Don Guadalupe (Soler), his wife Doña Carmen (Matilde Palou), and his son Alberto (Luis López Somoza). In the middle of the night, the fugitive girl appears, she is Susana (Quintana), in the middle of the storm is welcomed by the family. The next day, he meets everyone, the maid, Felisa (Maria Gentil Arcos), from the beginning suspicious with the young woman, and the principal servant, Jesus (Victor Manuel Mendoza), who immediately focuses all his attention on the newly arrival. Soon the girl begins to arouse restlessness in all the men of the house, in the own Jesus, in Don Guadalupe, but it is with the young Alberto with whom finally a kiss is consummated. Don Guadalupe is the one who most resists her charms, although his desire for her gradually grows, to the point of firing and bouncing Jesus off the house after discovering him trying to force Susana. Finally everything explodes, Don Guadalupe loses his head for Susana, the girl rebels completely against Doña Carmen, challenges her, under the protection of the landowner, even disposed to throw his wife and son out of home, but Jesus appears, who, knowing more than one truth about Susana, will put an end to the already unsustainable drama.
Once the film is finished, you can see how Buñuel portrays his economic filmmaking when he immediately presents his intention: after a beginning showing a very calm and little clear sky, that tranquility and calm get broken, a storm starts, there are thunders; with that strong break we are introduced to the protagonist. There will be a double fracture, since the family harmony is immediately destroyed, destroyed by the carnal Susana, just as that peaceful sky is interrupted by thunder and storm. The presentation is eloquent, eloquent and forceful, as we see her at first struggling with the workers of the reformatory, spitting them, as they lead her to her cell by force, where dark beasts await, a bat, rats, scorpions, a huge tarantula, dark creatures of a gloomy and subterranean world. That is her environment, so Susana is presented to us, she is put on the level of these creatures, the underworld, the dark, marginal beings, evil beings, she herself puts on the level of these animals, is compared with them, ask for freedom to God, comparing with a viper, a comparison that already says enough. She is an animal that moves among shadows -as when finally seducing Don Guadalupe, her mayor achievement, her mayor seduction- in the middle of the shadows, she smiles, her face and her smile are the only things that escapes from the darkness. But there is something so disturbing as to be attractive in Susana, she is a complex personage, she shows a singular duality, she prays, she entrusts herself to God, in her own way of course, comparing with the viper and her right to freedom, almost rebuking that she has been created that way; she is conscious of her being, of her inclinations, and she is not afraid, she embraces her nature, represents the cursed caste (like
The Young and the Damned), who rebel to the system, to the established order, and she rebels through her indomitable carnal desire. Just as quickly a whole flow begins: she, still in a pitiful state, soaked with rain, muddy, messed up, even in this situation, is already arousing the libido of men, the glances of Jesus and Don Guadalupe already begin to show lust, traversing her flesh, her legs, Susana is pure desire and carnality. Her personality is promptly shown, she calls
mother to Doña Carmen, she is a being who knows perfectly what she does, is manipulative, with a complete lack of innocence, is a dual, amoral being, and Buñuel accurately shows us her dual procedure.
Pure desire, pure lust, pure carnality, one of the of all-life-themes in Buñuel, but this time that desire is consumed, repeatedly, without stopping, now we will see a kind of continuation of Modot of
The golden age (1930), and a feminine variant of the Jaibo, but in this opportunity there will be no stop, at least until that final so abrupt and that did not respond to a complete will of Buñuel. Buñuel finally get to give free rein to one of his great themes, the carnal desire, because if in
Un Chien Andalou (1929), or in
The golden age, the crazy love, the
amour fou, flows vigorously but finding obstacles in every corner and every instant, there is no one who represses that desire, which is now completely consumed, in the figure of her, all that desire reaches its maximum expression, is all that it can be. She is everything, she is the center, she is the engine of all actions, manipulating all men and women, and managing men as puppets, she is a demon who controls everything, as Felisa affirmed, according to her presentation, with her face translucent through the window in the gloomy, stormy night. She deeply disrupts everything and everyone, she makes the studious and conservative son rebuke his father, even raise his hand; she achieves that the foreman almost rebbele to the employer, she makes that every single man wishes her for his own, and for no one else, thus we see the caporal prohibiting her to the labourers, and the employer in turn prohibiting her to the caporal and to his son; but the greatest triumph of Susana is that the devout and conservative mother gets carried away by fury and jealousy, with that delicious sequence of Doña Carmen finally whipping Susana, with a disturbing smile while flagellating the lust that once hosted as a daughter, in her own house. Everything becomes a hive just about of exploding, as it eventually happens, full of tension, the sharp tension will finally explode. The ending however is something that Buñuel did not want in that way to one hundred percent, a subject forced in the interviews on this film, because the obligation of censorship finally arrives, the repression, Susana is surprisingly trapped again, and the calm will return to the home. That end is so miraculous and violent that every change aroused by her exit is translated into forceful consequences, birds sing, there is light, there is life, sick mare is rehabilitated, and even gets a foal calf, the symbolism is full, new life arises after the hell lived; the devil, as Felisa said, has come out of their lives. "I am sorry that I did not emphasize the caricature at the end, when everything ends miraculously well. An unintended viewer can take this outcome seriously", Buñuel tells us, which shows the nature of that resolution.
And that end is no coincidence, in this film the allegories and symbolisms are reduced, in exchange for conventions, more frontal representations probably still product of the uncertainty of the filmmaker in those lands, because as it was said, his then more personal work, the formidable
The Young and the Damned, was not yet released, and the situation of the director was really uncertain. Thus, the Aragonese had to adapt his style and script to the conventions of Mexican filmmaking, and although this correction of the script on the march was not a novelty on the Aztec soil for the filmmaker, it influenced the ways, and the end. Buñuel thus intentionally reveals his own symbolism -Susana compares herself directly to the viper-, breaks its symbolism by making it obvious, declaring it directly, this is because Buñuel deliberately sought to align with conventional canons, make a linear picture, his surrealism evolves in a way, something consistent with his Mexican stage. Something vital in the Buñuelian cinema are the creatures, the beasts that in the films are presented, Buñuel's bestiary does not stop growing with each film, now we will see Don Guadalupe and his beloved horses, Alberto and his insects, his Dragonfly, and Jesus, compared obviously with a rooster, archetype of
charro, tough and virile Mexican, with the huge hat he never leaves. There is an evident sordid bestiary, the companion beasts of Susana, but in turn and to a large extent, Susana will become the desired animal for each one, becomes the object of desire materialized, in the insects of Alberto, in the equine of Don Guadalupe, to whom the veterinarian says his love for horses resembles the love for women, and is thus symbolized in the mare-Susana. It is peculiar, on one hand Don Guadalupe sees her, Susana, and then passionately kisses his wife, a moment of warm surreal wink, because he sees his wife, but he has the other in the head, a figure commonly represented by that current. Curious treatment given to the brief sequence in which the family prays, dark and full of shadows, in one of the most attractive visuals within the film, unfortunately short, but for the connoisseur of the Buñuelian work, is worthy of attention. The rhythm of the film is one of the best that has been seen in the features of Buñuel, this partly achieved because his sequence-shots, watchword of this Buñuelian stage, streamline the narration, chain everything to give a concise and agile rhythm, more fluency in the story, what the filmmaker liked, and that makes the little more than 80 minutes of footage pass quickly and easily. Similarly, it is very interesting and attractive how not only the characters and the story grow as minutes go by, but also the audiovisual language, in the form of the camera, the visual narration also changes, the camera stops behaving statically, to show a greater capacity to almost seek the protagonists, a dynamism that is perfectly coupled with the drama and tension that grow geometrically. It is curious that in this film Buñuel has to do something of what he was always enemy, that is, to show kisses on screen, something that always eluded within the possible, but in this picture they are shown more frequently probably than in any other of his films. The seductions are part of the movie, and the filmmaker finally shows, albeit with some modesty, the different kisses that successively is getting Susana. We are facing a film often branded as a minor, but within that "inferiority", the director has managed to capture a very personal work, which contains much of what a Luis Buñuel cinema lover seeks in a film.
Fourth film in Mexican lands of the enormous Aragonese filmmaker Luis Buñuel, a work in certain aspects atypical, but that continues carrying many of the main directives of a director who had already assimilated the form to make cinema in Aztec lands, but that was in uncertainty on the results of his great work, the previous year Los Olvidados (The Young and the Damned), which was not yet released. Without working on this occasion with the famous Alcoriza scriptwriter spouses, the director draws a story that is based on a story by Manuel Reachi, about the disturbing adventures of an attractive young woman, of dark and uncertain past, whose severe addiction to carnality will make her seducing successively every man who crosses his path, powerfully altering the harmony that reigned in the home where, ignorant of the past and the inclinations of the girl, she was received. Many times cataloged as inferior work, minor work within the filmography of the giant Spanish director, I consider that the picture has many positive aspects, while the filmmaker managed to impregnate his film with a very personal seal, returning to work with Fernando Soler, as he did in El Gran Calavera (The Great Madcap (1949)). The actress selected to give life to Susana is Rosita Quintana, certainly an imposition, being the wife of one of the producers. A very interesting work of the Iberian artist.
The story begins in a stormy night, in a reformatory, where a young woman, an attractive woman who is being held there, escapes. Then we see a family, they all live with calm and happiness, the landowner Don Guadalupe (Soler), his wife Doña Carmen (Matilde Palou), and his son Alberto (Luis López Somoza). In the middle of the night, the fugitive girl appears, she is Susana (Quintana), in the middle of the storm is welcomed by the family. The next day, he meets everyone, the maid, Felisa (Maria Gentil Arcos), from the beginning suspicious with the young woman, and the principal servant, Jesus (Victor Manuel Mendoza), who immediately focuses all his attention on the newly arrival. Soon the girl begins to arouse restlessness in all the men of the house, in the own Jesus, in Don Guadalupe, but it is with the young Alberto with whom finally a kiss is consummated. Don Guadalupe is the one who most resists her charms, although his desire for her gradually grows, to the point of firing and bouncing Jesus off the house after discovering him trying to force Susana. Finally everything explodes, Don Guadalupe loses his head for Susana, the girl rebels completely against Doña Carmen, challenges her, under the protection of the landowner, even disposed to throw his wife and son out of home, but Jesus appears, who, knowing more than one truth about Susana, will put an end to the already unsustainable drama.
Once the film is finished, you can see how Buñuel portrays his economic filmmaking when he immediately presents his intention: after a beginning showing a very calm and little clear sky, that tranquility and calm get broken, a storm starts, there are thunders; with that strong break we are introduced to the protagonist. There will be a double fracture, since the family harmony is immediately destroyed, destroyed by the carnal Susana, just as that peaceful sky is interrupted by thunder and storm. The presentation is eloquent, eloquent and forceful, as we see her at first struggling with the workers of the reformatory, spitting them, as they lead her to her cell by force, where dark beasts await, a bat, rats, scorpions, a huge tarantula, dark creatures of a gloomy and subterranean world. That is her environment, so Susana is presented to us, she is put on the level of these creatures, the underworld, the dark, marginal beings, evil beings, she herself puts on the level of these animals, is compared with them, ask for freedom to God, comparing with a viper, a comparison that already says enough. She is an animal that moves among shadows -as when finally seducing Don Guadalupe, her mayor achievement, her mayor seduction- in the middle of the shadows, she smiles, her face and her smile are the only things that escapes from the darkness. But there is something so disturbing as to be attractive in Susana, she is a complex personage, she shows a singular duality, she prays, she entrusts herself to God, in her own way of course, comparing with the viper and her right to freedom, almost rebuking that she has been created that way; she is conscious of her being, of her inclinations, and she is not afraid, she embraces her nature, represents the cursed caste (like The Young and the Damned), who rebel to the system, to the established order, and she rebels through her indomitable carnal desire. Just as quickly a whole flow begins: she, still in a pitiful state, soaked with rain, muddy, messed up, even in this situation, is already arousing the libido of men, the glances of Jesus and Don Guadalupe already begin to show lust, traversing her flesh, her legs, Susana is pure desire and carnality. Her personality is promptly shown, she calls mother to Doña Carmen, she is a being who knows perfectly what she does, is manipulative, with a complete lack of innocence, is a dual, amoral being, and Buñuel accurately shows us her dual procedure.
And that end is no coincidence, in this film the allegories and symbolisms are reduced, in exchange for conventions, more frontal representations probably still product of the uncertainty of the filmmaker in those lands, because as it was said, his then more personal work, the formidable The Young and the Damned, was not yet released, and the situation of the director was really uncertain. Thus, the Aragonese had to adapt his style and script to the conventions of Mexican filmmaking, and although this correction of the script on the march was not a novelty on the Aztec soil for the filmmaker, it influenced the ways, and the end. Buñuel thus intentionally reveals his own symbolism -Susana compares herself directly to the viper-, breaks its symbolism by making it obvious, declaring it directly, this is because Buñuel deliberately sought to align with conventional canons, make a linear picture, his surrealism evolves in a way, something consistent with his Mexican stage. Something vital in the Buñuelian cinema are the creatures, the beasts that in the films are presented, Buñuel's bestiary does not stop growing with each film, now we will see Don Guadalupe and his beloved horses, Alberto and his insects, his Dragonfly, and Jesus, compared obviously with a rooster, archetype of charro, tough and virile Mexican, with the huge hat he never leaves. There is an evident sordid bestiary, the companion beasts of Susana, but in turn and to a large extent, Susana will become the desired animal for each one, becomes the object of desire materialized, in the insects of Alberto, in the equine of Don Guadalupe, to whom the veterinarian says his love for horses resembles the love for women, and is thus symbolized in the mare-Susana. It is peculiar, on one hand Don Guadalupe sees her, Susana, and then passionately kisses his wife, a moment of warm surreal wink, because he sees his wife, but he has the other in the head, a figure commonly represented by that current. Curious treatment given to the brief sequence in which the family prays, dark and full of shadows, in one of the most attractive visuals within the film, unfortunately short, but for the connoisseur of the Buñuelian work, is worthy of attention. The rhythm of the film is one of the best that has been seen in the features of Buñuel, this partly achieved because his sequence-shots, watchword of this Buñuelian stage, streamline the narration, chain everything to give a concise and agile rhythm, more fluency in the story, what the filmmaker liked, and that makes the little more than 80 minutes of footage pass quickly and easily. Similarly, it is very interesting and attractive how not only the characters and the story grow as minutes go by, but also the audiovisual language, in the form of the camera, the visual narration also changes, the camera stops behaving statically, to show a greater capacity to almost seek the protagonists, a dynamism that is perfectly coupled with the drama and tension that grow geometrically. It is curious that in this film Buñuel has to do something of what he was always enemy, that is, to show kisses on screen, something that always eluded within the possible, but in this picture they are shown more frequently probably than in any other of his films. The seductions are part of the movie, and the filmmaker finally shows, albeit with some modesty, the different kisses that successively is getting Susana. We are facing a film often branded as a minor, but within that "inferiority", the director has managed to capture a very personal work, which contains much of what a Luis Buñuel cinema lover seeks in a film.
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