Phantom of Liberty Movie Review

Even at 74, Luis Buñuel (1900–83) could still romp with his audiences with an appreciation of playfulness at its deepest and purest levels, jesting here, poking there. The Phantom of Liberty is a delicious film: warm, humorous, and delightful. Stories of pornography, violence, death, Catholicism, and convention all wind into each other, and each and every subject is ribbed to bits by film's end. (Only Buñuel could direct a dinner sequence as wild as the one you'll see in this film!) Buñuel's next film, 1977's That Obscure Object of Desire, was his swan song. AKA: Le Fantôme de la Liberté; The Specter of Freedom.

1974 104m/C FR Adriana Asti, Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi, Monica Vitti, Milena Vukotic, Michael (Michel) Lonsdale, Claude Pieplu, Julien Bertheau, Paul Frankeur, Paul Leperson, Bernard Verley; D: Luis Bunuel; W: Luis Bunuel, Jean-Claude Carriere; C: Edmond Richard. VHS, LV