Viridiana is an idealistic novice, about to take her final vows. After encouragement from her mother superior, she visits her well-to-do benefactor, her uncle Don Jaime. Struck by Viridiana's similarity to the wife he lost on their wedding night, Don Jaime turns his attentions to Viridiana, and she struggles to uphold her Catholic principals as events conspire to turn her from saint to commoner. Luis Bunuel's anti-church masterpiece is one of the most controversial films of the 20th century, banned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican.