L'âge d'or (1930)

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel (scenario) and
Salvador Dalí (scenario)

Release Date:

1 November 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Comedy | Fantasy

Tagline:

Banned for over 50 years [Australia Theatrical]

Plot:

Bunuel's first feature has more of a plot than Un Chien Andalou, but it's still a pure Surrealist film...

Plot Keywords:

Pillow | Fire | Blood | Mud | Handicapped

Cast

Gaston Modot	...	The Man
Lya Lys	...	Young Girl
Caridad de Laberdesque	...	Chambermaid and Little Girl
Max Ernst	...	Leader of men in cottage
Josep Llorens Artigas	...	Governor
Lionel Salem	...	Duke of Blangis
Germaine Noizet	...	Marquise
Duchange	...	Conductor
Bonaventura Ibáñez	...	Marquis (as Ibanez)

Also Known As:

Âge d'or (France) (alternative spelling)
Age of Gold (International: English title) (literal title)
La bête andalouse (France) (working title)
The Golden Age (USA)

Runtime:

60 min | USA:63 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:(Banned) (1930-1974) | Argentina:16 | UK:15 (2003 re-rating) | UK:AA (1980 release)

Filming Locations:

Billancourt Studios - 50 Quai du Pont-du-Jour, Paris 16, Paris, France

Company:

Vicomte de Noailles

Trivia:

This film was granted a screening permit after being presented to the Board of Censors as the dream of a madman. Opening at Studio 28 in Paris in October 1930, word spread about the film's bizarre content. On the evening of 3 December 1930, the fascist League of Patriots and other groups began (halfway through the film) to throw purple ink at the screen, then rushed out into the lobby of the theater, slashing paintings by Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and Man Ray. The producers of the film, Le Vicomte de Noailles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, soon withdrew the film from circulation. The (legal) US premiere of subtitled prints of this film took place 1-15 November 1979 at the Roxie Cinema, San Francisco.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Buñuel y la mesa del rey Salomón (2001)

Soundtrack:

The Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave), Op. 26

Delicious Ahead-of-its-Time Black Comedy

At least sixty years ahead of its time. This collection of surreal scenes satirising every possible social value you can think of and revelling in anything considered by the aristocrats to be vulgar was made with a delicious sense for black comedy, a taste for which would not become socially acceptable for sixty years. This movie caused riots on its first release in 1930, and was banned for forty years. If you see this on the program to be shown at an art gallery near you, like i did, you won't regret seeing it. Think of it as Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel sticking their finger up at everything everyone else takes seriously, and laughing at their being offended. Seventy years later, the art gallery audience i was with were laughing along with Bunuel and Dali. This is about the most modern feeling thing you'll see from early cinema. I'll give you a sample: a couple are such nymphomaniacs, whenever they see each other, they can't stop from leaping on each other and writhing on the ground together. At one point in the movie, they are kissing, and all of a sudden he sees the foot of a statue behind her and is distracted by its beauty. He becomes dazed and zoned on the foot. She pulls away from him, tries to talk to him, he holds his hand up to her face as if to say: "hang on, just give me a minute." Then he feels compelled to leave her. Left on her own, mourning her momentary separation from her lustful partner, she begins sucking on the toes of the statue, as she was sucking on the fingers of her love a few scenes before. Camera cuts to a close-up of the statue's face, as if to check its reaction. The entire audience broke up at this. It was all too much. An absolute riot which can only be appreciated today as taking the p*ss out of every form of conservatism you can imagine.

WARNING= it is at times disturbing. If you are at all feint-hearted, and can not separate movies from reality, especially surrealist movies from reality, then stay away.