Ensayo de un crimen (1955)

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel (writer)
Eduardo Ugarte (writer)

Release Date:

19 May 1955 (Mexico)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Plot:

The delirious journey of a mental disordered man, who is obsessed in making the perfect crime.

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Compulsion | Stockings | Surrealism | Attempted Murder

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Miroslava	...	Lavinia
Ernesto Alonso	...	Archibaldo de la Cruz
Rita Macedo	...	Patricia Terrazas
Ariadna Welter	...	Carlota Cervantes
Andrea Palma	...	Mrs. Cervantes
Rodolfo Landa	...	Alejandro Rivas
José María Linares-Rivas	...	Willy Corduran (as J.M. Linares Rivas)
Leonor Llausás	...	The Governess
Eva Calvo	...	Señora de la Cruz, Archibaldo's mother
Enrique Díaz 'Indiano'	...	Señor de la Cruz, Archibaldo's father (as Enrique Indiano)
Carlos Riquelme	...	The Commissioner
Chabela Durán	...	Sister Trinidad
Carlos Martínez Baena	...	Priest (as Carlos M. Baena)
Manuel Dondé	...	Colonel at wedding
Armando Velasco	...	Judge

Also Known As:

La vida criminal de Archibaldo de la Cruz
Rehearsal for a Crime
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (USA)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Alianza Cinematográfica Española

Movie Connections:

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

"Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action."

I don't understand why some reviewers call "Criminal Life of Archibaldo De La Cruz" (1955) - "minor" Bunuel. The only "minor" about this (and many his films) is its running time, only 89 minutes but all his films are enigmatic, odd, charming, and always brilliant. I consider Bunuel one of the best and original filmmakers ever and nothing he had done is minor for me.

"Criminal Life of Archibaldo De La Cruz is B/W comedy of Don Luis' Mexican period which is surreal, disturbing, erotic and funny satire about a perverted young wealthy man, an amateur sculptor. Since he was a boy, and one evening witnessed the sudden death of his young attractive governess and became sexually exited by it, Archibaldo De La Cruz dreams of committing a perfect crime of an attractive woman to recreate the feeling but something always prevents him from fulfilling his dreams. It does not mean that the deaths would not occur -it is just that Archibaldo can't take a credit for them. As he often did with his even unlikable and perverse characters, Bunuel gives some of his own sexual fantasies, fetishes, and dreams that he freely admits to Archibaldo thus making him more human and sympathetic.