Teaching Bunuel

Yesterday, I met a friend (former student) and his girlfriend for pizza in Tucson.  We caught up on each others' lives, and discussed cinema.

Inevitably, all roads lead to Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel whenever I am discussing film.  Other than Un chien andalou  my friend had not seen any other films from Bunuel's filmmography.  So, I mentioned that I would suggest which films to see, and in the order I felt he should see them.

There are several ways to approach the study of Bunuel's films:  chronologically and thematically (anti-bourgeois; anti-clerical) are two.  I'm just going to move forward without forethought.

Early Bunuel (Un chien andalou; L'age d'or; Las hurdes)

1. The first two films are essential viewing for all cinemaphiles; Andalou, co-directed with Dali, is one of a handful of definitvie surrealistic films.
2. I've come to appreciate the documentary Las Hurdes more and more as I've become a disciple of Bunuel.  You will never forget the images projected in this documentary.  They will haunt you for the rest of your life.

The Mexican Films

1. Los olvidados was the film that returned Bunuel to the public eye (after about a fifteen year absence).  Notable is its photography, lensed by the world-class Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa.
2. Nazarin and Viridiana fit under the anti-clerical theme.  I could watch (and have) both films over and over, but to be sure, I think Viridiana is one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had.  I won't reveal it, but there is a famous/infamous sequence near the end of this film that will send you into fits of laughter (unless you are a die-hard Catholic, in which case you would never have made it that far in the film).
3. The Exterminating Angel is the film that gave birth to the next period in Bunuel's career.  This is the most recent Bunuel film released by Criterion.
4. Simon of the Desert

The European Films

1. Diary of a Chambermaid gave Bunuel the opportunity to work with Jeanne Moreau and to fixate on her legs (Bunuel without doubt has a festish for women's legs.).
2. Belle de Jour is probably the most well-known and easily accessible Bunuel film.  It features Catherine Deneuve in a masochistic turn that would make the Marquis de Sade quiver.  If you try to view this film rationally you're asking for disappointment.  Be your mind-altering best ...
3. Tristana give us more Deneuve, more legs, and the opportunity to hang around Toledo (Spain, not that other place.) -- Bunuel's favorite city.
4. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie/The Phantom of Liberty/That Obscure Object of Desire comprise a trilogy of anti-bourgeois-themed films, and next to Belle de Jour are his most well known and liked films.  Discreet Charm is much like an extension of Exterminating Angel.  My favorite line from any film is in Phantom ("I hate symmetry.").  I confess to never really 'getting' Bunuel's last film, That Oscure Object of Desire  My feelings are similar to the one I had for Kubrick's last, Eyes Wide Shut

I acknowledge that it lacks academic bona fides, but this is how I would approach Bunuel.  It's important to me to observe how Bunuel evolved -- no obvious chain of events, but rather in spite of the chain of events that characterized his life.

He started out as an iconoclast with no boundaries (Andalou; L'age); he became a journeyman filmmaker (the Mexican period); he evolved into a world-class filmmaker.

Right up there with Sidney Lumet's Making Movies is Bunuel's autobiography (dictated by Bunuel, written by Jean Claude Carriere, a frequent collaborator of Don Luis) -- My Last Sigh.  It's priceless.