The Phantom of Liberty. (15.)
Directed by Luis Bunuel.
Starring Adriana Asti, Julien Bertheau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Adolfo Celi, Paul Frankeur, Michel Lonsdale, Pierre Maguelon, Francois Maistre, Helene Perdriere, Michel Piccoli, Claude Pieplu, Jean Rochefort, Bernard Verley, Milena Vukotic, Monica Vitti, Muni, Jean Rougerie. In French with subtitles. 104 mins. Screening on MUBI till May 15th as part of their Obscure Objects of Desire season.
At the beginning and the end of Bunuel's penultimate film the declaration “Down with liberty” is heard and, to be honest, I had some sympathy. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose and here liberty is just another word for doing a half arsed job. Armed with his Discrete Charm Of The Bourgeoisie Oscar the 75-year-old Bunuel finally had the window to make a film of all those little ideas and images he'd had in his head for years but never could find a use for. The result is a film full of ideas and images that you don't really have any use for.
The movie is structured as a relay race of interlinked scenes, similar to the new Ukranian film Donbass. We start in Toledo in 1808 with Spanish rebels being executed by Napoleonic forces and then jump to the present day 70s where a nanny on a park bench is reading the voiceover we heard in the previous section. The girls she is looking after are given some photos by a seedy looking man by the swings in the playground and told not to let grown-ups see them. At home her parents see them, feel both shocked and disgusted but also aroused, and then we see that the offending images are of tourist attractions such as L'Arc d'Triomphe or Sacre-Couer. That night the father, who had already complained that he was having trouble sleeping is interrupted by various animals and a postman coming into his bedroom. He goes to a doctor and we follow the doctor's receptionist as she goes home to see her ailing father. And so on.
The freewheeling narrative is pleasant but doesn't make up for most of these sections being uninspired or straight out dull. Apparently, the script was written by Bunuel and co-writer Jean-Claude Carriere telling each other their dreams every morning which is always a recipe for tedium. The humour is often simple reversals in the style of the dirty pictures subversion. (A dinner party scene has a particularly effective one but I won't spoil it here.) The cast is tremendous but Bunuel shoots it his customary pancake-flat, blandly lit style.
When I was an impressionable youth and watching Bunuel films on BBC 2 this all seemed terribly sophisticated and grown up but now it feels a bit tame. It's pleasant enough but overall this is a Liberty being taken, and it is a bleeding one.
MUBI is a high brow, bespoke subscription movie streaming service where 31 films are available to stream at any one time. The selection changes daily with one film dropping out and a new one replacing it. Subscribers also get one free cinema ticket to a MUBI approved film of the week, currently Loro.
Directed by Luis Bunuel.
Starring Adriana Asti, Julien Bertheau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Adolfo Celi, Paul Frankeur, Michel Lonsdale, Pierre Maguelon, Francois Maistre, Helene Perdriere, Michel Piccoli, Claude Pieplu, Jean Rochefort, Bernard Verley, Milena Vukotic, Monica Vitti, Muni, Jean Rougerie. In French with subtitles. 104 mins. Screening on MUBI till May 15th as part of their Obscure Objects of Desire season.
At the beginning and the end of Bunuel's penultimate film the declaration “Down with liberty” is heard and, to be honest, I had some sympathy. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose and here liberty is just another word for doing a half arsed job. Armed with his Discrete Charm Of The Bourgeoisie Oscar the 75-year-old Bunuel finally had the window to make a film of all those little ideas and images he'd had in his head for years but never could find a use for. The result is a film full of ideas and images that you don't really have any use for.
The movie is structured as a relay race of interlinked scenes, similar to the new Ukranian film Donbass. We start in Toledo in 1808 with Spanish rebels being executed by Napoleonic forces and then jump to the present day 70s where a nanny on a park bench is reading the voiceover we heard in the previous section. The girls she is looking after are given some photos by a seedy looking man by the swings in the playground and told not to let grown-ups see them. At home her parents see them, feel both shocked and disgusted but also aroused, and then we see that the offending images are of tourist attractions such as L'Arc d'Triomphe or Sacre-Couer. That night the father, who had already complained that he was having trouble sleeping is interrupted by various animals and a postman coming into his bedroom. He goes to a doctor and we follow the doctor's receptionist as she goes home to see her ailing father. And so on.
The freewheeling narrative is pleasant but doesn't make up for most of these sections being uninspired or straight out dull. Apparently, the script was written by Bunuel and co-writer Jean-Claude Carriere telling each other their dreams every morning which is always a recipe for tedium. The humour is often simple reversals in the style of the dirty pictures subversion. (A dinner party scene has a particularly effective one but I won't spoil it here.) The cast is tremendous but Bunuel shoots it his customary pancake-flat, blandly lit style.
When I was an impressionable youth and watching Bunuel films on BBC 2 this all seemed terribly sophisticated and grown up but now it feels a bit tame. It's pleasant enough but overall this is a Liberty being taken, and it is a bleeding one.
MUBI is a high brow, bespoke subscription movie streaming service where 31 films are available to stream at any one time. The selection changes daily with one film dropping out and a new one replacing it. Subscribers also get one free cinema ticket to a MUBI approved film of the week, currently Loro.
