Directed by Luis Buñuel
4 Episodes
One of cinema’s great iconoclasts and mischief makers, Spanish master Luis Buñuel combined surrealist non sequiturs with taboo-shattering attacks on the bourgeoisie, the church, and social hypocrisy to create some of the most incendiary films of the twentieth century. Perpetually on the cutting edge, he began his career as a member of the French surrealists, collaborating with Salvador Dalí on the scandalous avant-garde landmark L’ÂGE D’OR. After being exiled from Spain, he worked primarily in Mexico for two decades, a period that culminated with the savage satire THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL. It was upon his return to France in the 1960s that Buñuel entered into the extraordinary final phase of his career, producing a string of internationally acclaimed masterpieces—including BELLE DE JOUR, THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, and THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE—in which his outré, straight-from-the-id imagery and scathing commentaries on class, sex, religion, and conventional morality reached new heights of subversive power.
-
37:33Episode 1“Cinéastes de notre temps”: Luis Buñuel
Episode 1
On April 4, 1964, the French television series “Cinéastes de notre temps” presented an episode on filmmaker Luis Buñuel, directed by Robert Valey and produced by Jeanine Bazin and André S. Labarthe. The following are edited excerpts.
-
Viridiana
Episode 2
Directed by Luis Buñuel • 1961 • Spain
Starring Silvia Pinal, Fernando Rey, Francisco RabalBanned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican, Luis Buñuel’s irreverent vision of life as a beggar’s banquet is regarded by many as his masterpiece. In it, novice nun Viridiana does her utmost to mainta...
-
1:40:11Episode 3Belle de jour
Episode 3
Directed by Luis Buñuel • 1967 • France
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel PiccoliCatherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in ...
-
1:44:19Episode 4The Phantom of Liberty
Episode 4
Directed by Luis Buñuel • 1974 • France
Starring Michel Piccoli, Jean-Claude Brialy, Monica VittiBourgeois convention is demolished in Luis Buñuel’s surrealist gem THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY. Featuring an elegant soiree with guests seated at toilet bowls, poker-playing monks using religious meda...