Sospeso tra cielo e terra: il Simon di Bunuel

Simón del Desierto is the last work of Luis Buñuel’s Mexican period. In his film, "cut in half" and ended in haste because of the producer’s economic difficulties, Buñuel stages an ascetic who, like Simeon the Stylite, has chosen to live in the desert on the top of a column; honoured by the people, he distributes miracles and suffers the temptations of the devil. The paper analyzes the character of the protagonist, closed in its useless individualism and suspended between the earth, from which he wants to move away, and the sky, toward which he strives in vain; Simón is depicted on the basis of the Christological and hagiographical model, and his language and behaviour reveal the deep influence of biblical text.