A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
Recounted in flashback are the romantic perils of Mathieu, a middle-aged French sophisticate as he falls for his nineteen year-old former chambermaid Conchita.
Director:
Luis Buñuel
Stars:
Fernando Rey,
Carole Bouquet,
Ángela Molina
Shortly after her mother's death, an innocent and youthful woman will find refuge into the household of her middle-aged aristocratic guardian, who will submit her to his sexual advances.
Director:
Luis Buñuel
Stars:
Catherine Deneuve,
Fernando Rey,
Franco Nero
Two drifters go on a pilgrimage from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Along the way, they hitchhike, beg for food, and face the Christian dogmas and heresies from different Ages.
Director:
Luis Buñuel
Stars:
Paul Frankeur,
Laurent Terzieff,
Alain Cuny
A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City, and the morals of young Pedro are gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.
A sophisticated and self-assured woman from Paris joins a middle-class rural estate as a maid and causes quite a stir among the variously uptight, perverse and violent inhabitants.
Director:
Luis Buñuel
Stars:
Jeanne Moreau,
Georges Géret,
Michel Piccoli
Simon, a deeply religious man living in the 4th century, wants to be nearer to God so he climbs a column. The Devil wants him to come down to Earth and is trying to seduce him.
A surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
Director:
Luis Buñuel
Stars:
Gaston Modot,
Lya Lys,
Caridad de Laberdesque
Several bourgeois friends planning to get together for dinner experience a succession of highly unusual occurrences that interfere with their expected dining enjoyment.Written by
Ed Cannon <ecannon@mail.utexas.edu>
After Rafael gives the terrorist champagne, his position in the chair changes between shots. See more »
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.
See more »
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is not about something in particular . It doesn't have a plot and doesn't really need one. It is about the constant interruptions that ruin the dinners of some french bourgeoisie friends, interruptions mostly surreal and absurd. The movie is not as shocking and acid as Bunuel's earlier work but it is more chiseled and as weird and witty as those . Also, the dream sequences are made exceptionally.
The film satirizes french bourgeoisie but as I said it is not really an acid satire but a surreal comedy/drama that doesn't really have to make sense. Dream in dream sequences are often used to express the character's unrests and troubles. The movie is somehow similar to The Exterminating Angel where the characters, after they eat cannot leave the room even though there is nothing stopping them. Here, different situations interrupt the characters from eating. These situations are absurd and illogic, just like the ones in The Exterminating Angel.
The situations are absolutely amazing and Bunuel once again makes a statement. The bourgeoisie characters are shown as false and hypocritical as they are funny to the viewers. The movie is complex and unusual and different from anything you've ever seen.
Watch it! It's worth it.
25 of 37 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is not about something in particular . It doesn't have a plot and doesn't really need one. It is about the constant interruptions that ruin the dinners of some french bourgeoisie friends, interruptions mostly surreal and absurd. The movie is not as shocking and acid as Bunuel's earlier work but it is more chiseled and as weird and witty as those . Also, the dream sequences are made exceptionally.
The film satirizes french bourgeoisie but as I said it is not really an acid satire but a surreal comedy/drama that doesn't really have to make sense. Dream in dream sequences are often used to express the character's unrests and troubles. The movie is somehow similar to The Exterminating Angel where the characters, after they eat cannot leave the room even though there is nothing stopping them. Here, different situations interrupt the characters from eating. These situations are absurd and illogic, just like the ones in The Exterminating Angel.
The situations are absolutely amazing and Bunuel once again makes a statement. The bourgeoisie characters are shown as false and hypocritical as they are funny to the viewers. The movie is complex and unusual and different from anything you've ever seen.
Watch it! It's worth it.