the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie (1972)
by zEke
Luis Buñuel is considered by many the father of cinematographic surrealism. Truth is, his movies are always seasoned with a number of surrealistic ingredients served on an accurate manner. He is to date the Spanish director whose work has had the largest impact worldwide and still today influences the way some new directors understand cinema. A clear example of his heritage can be found in the work of David Lynch.
the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie tells the story of six French bourgeoises and their multiple attempts to have a proper meal that is not interrupted by the most surreal circumstances. Fernando Rey, in another of his many collaborations with the Spanish director, stars as Don Rafael, the Ambassador of the fictitious Latin American Republic of Miranda and the character most of the plot goes around. He is one of the bourgeoises, together with both a cold and a hot married couple and a young single woman. The Church and the Army have also a curious appearance, something usual in Buñuel’s filmography.
This surrealist feature won an Oscar for France in 1973, best foreign language film. Luis Buñuel’s authorship was also granted, the original script he wrote was nominated as one of the best the same year. It is precisely the script one of the best aspects of the movie because of its richness in symbolic and surrealistic elements apparently disconnected, cockroaches included. Nevertheless, it might be the script as well, what keeps some from enjoying the experience. Some of the used resources could be branded as simplistic and might turn off those audiences not as familiar with cinematographic surrealism.
I have the feeling that we are overwhelmed by the amount of movies produced these days. This keeps most of us from take a look back to appreciate the quality of some of the movies made in the past. Unfortunately, or not, this seems to be a trend, and many original past pieces as this one will be eventually completely forgotten in the future.
For the deadhours of those who do not like to be awakened when they are dreaming.
deadrate: γood
official site | imdb
No Comments
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
