The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
"Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie" (original title)

A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière

Stars:

Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Fernando Rey	...	Don Rafael Acosta
Paul Frankeur	...	M. Thevenot
Delphine Seyrig	...	Simone Thévenot
Bulle Ogier	...	Florence
Stéphane Audran	...	Alice Sénéchal (as Stephane Audran)
Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Henri Sénéchal
Julien Bertheau	...	Mgr Dufour
Milena Vukotic	...	Ines
Maria Gabriella Maione	...	Guerilla
Claude Piéplu	...	Colonel
Muni	...	Peasant
Pierre Maguelon	...	Sgt de police
François Maistre	...	Delecluze
Michel Piccoli	...	Ministre
Ellen Bahl

Storyline

Several bourgeois friends planning to get together for dinner experience a succession of highly unusual occurrences that interfere with their expected dining enjoyment.

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Plot Keywords:

dream | class | dinner | heroin | flashback | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

France Italy Spain

Language:

French Spanish

Release Date:

22 October 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$12,864 (USA) (12 May 2000)

Gross:

$198,809 (USA) (1 December 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dean Film, Greenwich Film Productions, Jet Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Luis Buñuel is credited with creating the sound effects for this film; he was almost deaf at the time.

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Goofs

After sending the terrorist out of his apartment, Rafael's position in the windows changes between shots.

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Quotes

Rafael Acosta: Finally, if you think about it, the only solution to starvation and poverty is in the hands of the army. You'll realize it in Miranda, when you have to open your pretty thighs to an infantry battalion.

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Connections

References The Exterminating Angel (1962)

User Reviews

Bunuel's towering achievement.

Bunuel's career was one of the most sensational you could dream of.At least ten of his movies are among my favorites and ten others are not far behind.

Once he said :" when I was young and I was watching the sky and saying :"it's beautiful up there and there's nothing;now,I simply say :"it's beautiful"Atheism had turned into agnosticism.Perhaps so,but Bunuel's favorite targets are still here.The bishop and the army are here to stay;they already were in "l'âge d'or" (1930)

"DIscreet charm" is a comprehensive work :it includes almost everything that made Bunuel the genius every cine buff loves ;his permanent features are all included: these bourgeois walking on an endless road are the same who were locked up in the house in "el angel exterminador";Rabal trying to catch one more peace of meat is like the men who were fighting for water in "el angel" .THe selfishness of the bourgeoisie is given a stunning treatment:the impossibility to get a good meal .Bunuel explodes certitudes and he explodes different genres.One of them is the light comedy with its adulteries,its mistaken identities and its contretemps.and if the message is not clear enough,one of the scenes shows the characters on a stage!Another one is the horror and fantasy film : the young boy's mother asking him to kill his father (who is actually not his parent);and most of all the soldier's dream which could provide the substance for at least a whole movie.

Dreamlike sequences are Bunuel's forte .He has sometimes been equaled (André Delvaux:"un soir un train" ) but never surpassed: just think of Pablo's dream in "los olvidados" ;the Christ on the electric wires in "cela s'appelle l'aurore" ;Séverine's fantasies in "Belle de Jour" ;Rey's head as a bell clapper in "Tristana".But in "discreet charm" Bunuel seems to connect all the links of the chain and his film becomes a tapestry of Bayeux where dreams and reality follow naturally. "I dreamed ,Thevenot says,that Senechal dreamed that he was on a stage and ..." It' s "Jacob's ladder" twenty years before that later movie appears.

It's also a political movie,but not a work for highbrows .What he did not fully achieved with the spotty "la fièvre monte à El Pao" ,and the more interesting "death in the garden" ,Bunuel pulls it off with gusto here.The republic (sic) of Miranda whose ambassador is none other than Rey is ,even if we never see it , depicted in minute lavish detail .Unlike highbrows like Godard who deals out his lecture on Mao in "la chinoise" ,Luis Bunuel remains accessible to everybody:we laugh and we laugh a lot when we discover the harsh realities of Miranda Land which has no pyramids ,but has Nazis and poverty.Actually it's not that much funny.

A word about the cast;it's perfect:Rey is wonderful as a drug trafficker ambassador who is always afraid to be slain ;Stephane Audran and Jean-Pierre Cassel had teamed up two years before in another attack against bourgeoisie ,Chabrol's "la rupture" ;Bulle Ogier,for once,forgets her usual parts who give the non-intellectual terrible headaches and manages to stay very natural;Claude Piéplu and his inimitable voice (make sure you hear his voice:nobody can dub him successfully) portrays a colorful colonel who tells the ambassador home truth and literally invades Audran's house with his staff and has lunch with the guests (a meal where the bourgeois,the Church and the Army eat together is something to watch).But for me the stand-out is feminist Delphine Seyrig,with her beaming face,her preciosity and her sweet stupidity.

To say that "discreet charm" is a masterpiece is to state the obvious.Maybe Bunuel's tour de force lies in the fact that even in reality,strange things happen and the characters do not seem to be surprised and shocked.... as long as their privileges are not called into question.If you should only see one Bunuel film,you had to choose this one.But if you like it,treasures are waiting for you.