Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

From Spain to Mexico to France (I 96-1 97 7) 237charged me such a monumental sum, she replied, "But he knowsSefior Alatriste, so I thought he was a millionaire."During this period, I used to go every day to what was almostcertainly Madrid's last peiia, which took place at an old cafe calledthe Viena and brought together Jose Bergamin, Jose-Luis Barros,the composer Pittaluga, and the matador Luis-Miguel Domingufn,as well as several other friends. We greeted each other with the secretfreemason's sign, just to defy Franco.Censorship in Spain was, at the time, notorious for its pettyformality, and since Viridiana's original ending showed her knockingat her cousin's door, entering, and the door closing slowly behindher, the board of censors rejected it out of hand. I had to invent anew one, which in the end was far more suggestive than the firstbecause of its implications of a menage a trois, In this second ending,Viridiana joins a card game being played between her cousin and hismistress. "I knew you'd end up playing tute with us," the cousinsmiles.In any case, the film created a considerable scandal in Spain,much like the one provoked by L'Age d'w; but, happily, the hue andcry absolved me in the eyes of my Republican friends in Mexico.Hostile articles appeared in L'Osservatore Romano, and although thefilm won the Golden Palm at Cannes, it was outlawed in Spain. Thehead of the cinema institute in Madrid, who'd gone to Cannes toaccept the award, was forced into a premature retirement because ofit. Finally, the affair created such a storm that Franco himself askedto see it, and according to what the Spanish producers told me, hefound nothing very objectionable about it. After all, given what he'dseen in his lifetime, it must have seemed incredibly innocent to him,but he nonetheless refused to overturn his minister's decision.In Italy, the film opened first in Rome, where it was well received,and then in Milan, where the public prosecutor immediatelyclosed the theatre, impounded the reels, and sued me in court, whereI was condemned to a year in jail if I so much as set foot in thecountry.The whole affair still amazes me. I remember when Alatriste saw