ÉL Movie Review

This Strange Passion

One of a series of films Luis Buñuel made in Mexico while in exile from Spain, Él (a Spanish pronoun for he) was released in the United States as This Strange Passion, which is not an entirely terrible title. Él is the story of Francisco (Arturo de Cordova), a wealthy, 40-year old Catholic virgin who persuades the beautiful Gloria (Delia Garcés) to marry him. But all is not well with Francisco, whose commitment to Gloria begins to merge the forces of his repressed paranoia, sexual anxiety, and religious mania. As one would expect—and secretly hope—in Buñuel, these impulses lead Francisco not to a 12-step group but to his sleeping wife's bedside as he clutches a needle, thread, and anesthetic. Él is an unblinking look at one man's rapid descent into madness, but what makes the film so riveting and entertaining is the straightforward matter-of-factness with which Francisco's deterioration is depicted, as well as the irrefutable logic of his response to the conflicting religious and sexual impulses within him. (A subtitle for the film might be Well, What Did You Expect?) This is a truly subversive and wonderful movie, a picture that, had it been made today—and it couldn't be—would be referred to as “a low-budget independent triumph.” More important than its budget, however, is the fact that it's a major, overlooked chapter in the cinematic career of a genius.

NEXT STOP … Wuthering Heights (Buñuel, 1954), The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, The Milky Way

1952 88m/B MX Arturo de Cordova, Delia Garces, Luis Beristain, Aurora Walker; D: Luis Bunuel; W: Luis Bunuel, Luis Alcoriza; C: Gabriel Figueroa; M: Luis Hernandez Breton. VHS HTV