Viridiana has a super fascistic message, but even if it goes against all my political beliefs, I still think it’s a fantastic movie. It’s a little bit like Salò in that it’s a very political movie but it transcends being just that. Whether you agree or disagree with it, it doesn’t matter. I love Buñuel’s playfulness, and I love the fact that he was nobody’s friend. Communists didn’t like him; Catholics didn’t like him; left-wing people didn’t like him; art people didn’t like him; art-movie lovers didn’t really love him at many points; mainstream moviegoers didn’t like him.

Belle de jour is everything that’s great about him and more. It’s also actually really entertaining. I would love to put this on for a bunch of Catholic nuns and evangelicals in a locked room and force their eyes open like in A Clockwork Orange. I would love to see how they would react.