The mother of all "Last Supper" parodies.

Trolling around some non-movie-related portions of the blogosphere, as I am wont to do, I see via Roy at alicublog that former movie reviewer Rod Dreher is displeased with an ad for some sorta leatherfest that parodies Leonardo's painting of you-know-who's last supper. Roy links to both Rod and the prolific Dan Savage, whose post features more Last Supper lampoons than I dreamt of in my philosophy, the tackiest for my money being the one presided over by Marilyn Monroe. "Where's the outrage?" Dan asks, as he well might, apropos these non-controversial sendups. Nothing's shocking anymore.

Of course, back in the early '60s, when director Luis Bunuel had his rampaging poor folk pose in attitudes suggesting The Last Supper in his magnificent Viridiana, there was outrage to spare.

I'm sure this image wasn't the only reason Franco wanted all prints and the negative of the film destroyed (as the extras on the Criterion DVD of this film show, he very nearly got his wish), but it helped! When accused of blasphemy for concocting this image, Don Luis—who, like many athiests of his particular stripe, knew Catholic dogma like the back of his hand—averred that there was no blasphemy whatsoever, as Leonardo's work, while depicting a religious scene, is in fact a secular one and not a sanctified object. (Compare and contrast Andres Serrano's Piss Christ, which if I understand correctly does pass the blasphemy test.) In the highly entertaining book of Bunuel interviews Objects of Desire, the director shrugs: "I don't understand the indignation. The beggars are eating and by chance form the same composition as in Leonardo's painting...they are believers, but at the same time they take liberties with religion. That is very Spanish."

In other Bunuel news, I just got the Facets/Cinemateca DVD of Bunuel's 1951 Mexican melodrama, Una Mujer Sin Amor (A Woman Without Love) and am relieved to report it's a pretty good-looking disc. I had reason to dread, as Facets is a label whose exceptional taste is trumped by its often execrable practices in DVD transferring. The dual-label tag tells the story—Spanish-language purveyors Cinemateca made the disc, and Facets is distributing. The less-good news is that the movie itself is no great shakes; as Tomas Perez Turrent tells Bunuel in Objects, "[It i]s the only film of yours in which I find nothing of interest." To which Bunuel replies, "Me neither. It's the worst one I made." However, Cinemateca has two very good Mexican Bunuels on tap—Susana, his adaptation of Devil in the Flesh, and El Bruto, starring a very feral Katy Jurado. I'll report on those when I get them.

Comments

[Gorilla Bob]

I'm very fond of El Brujo, a version of Wuthering Heights with some wonderful things in it. I caught it years ago at the Public Theater, when they were still showing films. Well worth your time. I feel Bunuel's mexican films are given short shrift, and deserve more attention.

[Gorilla Bob]

I like Cruising, having seen it year ago at the old Thalia Soho. For one thing, the gay scene it catalogues was all wiped out by aids, so it's almost like a doc on forgotten sex practices. I think it's been unfairly smeared, mostly by people who have never seen it. It's cold, but Friedkin is not Mr. Warm. Definitely worth a look.