THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE Movie Review

Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie

I've never really been sure whether the “Buñuelian” moments that have happened to me since 1972—the year in which The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie was released—were a result of seeing the film, or if I simply noticed them because of the film. It doesn't matter, I suppose, yet even as recently as last week, when I was presented at a McDonald's with the unlikely and downright alarming story that they were “out of french fries,” I felt the smiling presence of Luis Buñuel and his strangely comforting chronicle of a group of self-centered, middle-class adults who have the damnedest time getting something to eat. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie can certainly be interpreted in a number of ways, but on its simplest and most accessible level, it's a comedy—one which takes place as a series of dreams within dreams—about the eternal quest for human satisfaction, whether it be carnal or culinary. This quest, of course, can never be fully satisfied, nor is it ever over (God forbid we no longer long for anything), yet when Buñuel makes us look at it in such a literal manner—as a meal that is set out before us but which we can never quite get into our mouths—he makes us appreciate the bitter and inspired comedy behind the Creator's little jokes. Buñuel has said that given the choice, people will always select slavery over freedom; his genius lies in his ability to not only show us the evidence, but to amuse us with the notion of such a fate. His six characters trudging bravely down the road at the end of The Discreet Charm is as close to Buñuel's version of solidarity as we'll ever get; we're all in this together, and we might as well have a few laughs. A fabulous movie. With Stéphane Audran, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli, Milena Vukotic, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and the great Fernando Rey. Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Nominee for Best Original Screenplay.

NEXT STOP… Viridiana, Simon of the Desert, The Phantom of Liberty

1972 (R) 100m/C FR Milena Vukotic, Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli, Stephane Audran, Luis Bunuel; D: Luis Bunuel; W: Luis Bunuel, Jean-Claude Carriere; C: Edmond Richard. Academy Awards '72: Best Foreign Film; British Academy Awards '73: Best Actress (Seyrig), Best Screenplay; National Society of Film Critics Awards '72: Best Director (Bunuel), Best Film; Nominations: Academy Awards '72: Best Story & Screenplay. VHS, LV