Nazarín ending explained

What happens

Chained among common prisoners, Nazarín is told his goodness does no good. Then a peasant woman offers him a pineapple. He refuses, then accepts. It's the first time he lets himself simply receive.

The last image

A peasant woman holds out a pineapple to the priest, and the drums of Calanda sound on the soundtrack.

Three readings

1 · DefeatHis rigid ideal gives way, and the world has won.

2 · RevisionHe learns that accepting a gift can be as charitable as giving one.

3 · GraceThe drums suggest something larger than argument has touched him.

What it says

The film won't say whether his goodness was virtue or pride. His charity failed in practice yet doesn't vanish. Buñuel, drawn to the priest's sincerity, ends on a small human exchange, not a verdict.