Sightlines · reception
How Nazarín was received
1959 · Luis Buñuel · Nazarín on Sightlines
The arc
A Cannes International Prize winner in 1959 that put Buñuel's Mexican period on the world-cinema map, it was long overshadowed by Viridiana — but cinephiles have steadily reclaimed it as one of his very best, a view Buñuel himself shared.
What’s debated
The forever-debate: is it a sincere portrait of Christ-like virtue or an atheist's demolition of Christian charity — with believers and non-believers both claiming it as theirs?
Its footprint
Its Catholic reception became legend: religious critics embraced a film by cinema's most famous atheist, a delicious irony that still fuels every discussion of it — and Francisco Rabal's wandering priest became a touchstone for the 'holy fool' figure in art cinema.
Where it stands
A real-ones-know Buñuel — the crown jewel of his Mexican period for many cinephiles, and the film he often named among his own favorites.
Did you know? At Cannes 1959 the film won the International Prize — and was seriously considered by the Catholic film office (OCIC) for its own award, a prospect that reportedly horrified Buñuel, who delighted in being misread as devout.