Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

The film will not be to everybody's taste: if you tend to favour no-brainer farces like 'Dumb & Dumber', I'd advise you to give this one a miss. However if you enjoy the films of Woody Allen, the Coen brothers and fine cinema generally you will enjoy this film, especially as the performances are wonderful: the urbane Fernando Rey, sexy Stephane Audran, and the bumbling Paul Frankeur are perfectly cast.

The anamorphic image is outstanding: vividly clear with beautiful colours, and no nicks or flecks at all. Just beam up the sequence where the guests arrive for lunch near the beginning of the film (about 20 or so minutes in) and marvel at the luscious greens of the foliage as the car comes up the drive.

Bunuel's direction is understated, but that is his genius in this film: in lesser hands this rambling tale with its bizarre dream sequences interpolated would have been a shambles, but the 'story' is so tautly told and perfectly paced.

The shorter documentary is not so interesting, but the 105 minutes one is fascinating.

A desert island DVD set.


Dinner is Served   April 29, 2003
Gary F. Taylor (Biloxi, MS USA)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful

Director Luis Bunuel is often described as a surrealist, but the word misapplied in reference to his later works; rather than present the viewer with an odd visual display, he prefers to first create a plausible reality and then progressively undercut it with an increasingly implausible series of events. Such is the case with the Academy Award-winning THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, which begins with four friends who arrive at their hosts' home only to discover they have arrived on the wrong night--a plausible situation. But before the film has run its course, Bunuel unravels his tale of a meal that never quite happens in the most unexpected ways imaginable.

The film works on several levels, mocking social conventions, the church, and eventually spilling its action into a series of overlapping nightmares in which various attempts to dine are frustrated by everything from the corpse of a restaurant manager in a nearby room to military manouvers. On one memorable occasion, the friends are invited to dine and are seated around an elegant table--when a curtain suddenly rises behind them and reveals them to be seated on a stage before a hostile audience!

The cast (which features Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Frankeur, Bulle Ogier, Stephane Audran and Jean-Pierre Cassel as the constantly frustrated diners) plays with considerable aplomb, performing the most irrational scenes with a magnificent realism. When combined with Bunuel's absurdist story, the result is a disquieting yet often very funny discourse on frustrated appetites both real and imagined, and with many layers of incidental meaning along the way.

The DVD package is very nice, with the film in near-pristine condition and a host of interesting and often amusing extras, and Bunuel fans will consider it more than worth the rather hefty price-tag attached. But a word of caution to the uninitiated: Bunuel is not for those who seek a tidy plot line with clear-cut meanings. If you are not already a fan, you should probably begin with his equally complex but somewhat more accessible and considerably more subtle BELLE DE JOUR before diving off into DISCREET CHARM.

--GFT (Amazon reviewer)--


DON LUIS BUNUEL   January 8, 2001
wdanthemanw (Geneva, Switzerland)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Undoubtedly the DVD box presented by Criterion deserves 5 stars. Apart from the superb copy of THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, you will be able to watch a documentary produced by french and spanish television about Luis Bunuel's career with a lot of accurate interviews of the friends, the family and the actors who have surrounded the spanish genius. A second documentary will lead you into Bunuel's home before giving you the opportunity to discover some cocktails recipes invented by Bunuel.

In the late 20's, Luis Bunuel was an active member of the surrealist movement and gave to the cinema a unique masterpiece, UN CHIEN ANDALOU, whose screenplay had been written by Salvador Dali. For nearly 50 years, the cinematographic world of Luis Bunuel has been filled with the anarchic ideas of this movement and, if you don't know any of his movies, you are going to be a little bit puzzled by THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE. Before entering this world, you must learn to forget to ask " why ". Why are these people wandering through french landscapes ? Why does this bishop want so badly to become a gardener ? Why does this soldier have the urge to confess the dream he had the night before ? and so on. There are no particular meanings in these actions, they are just part of the world of one of the best film directors of the XXth century.

A healthy DVD.


"French Python"   November 2, 2001
Eddy Oquendo (New York, New York USA)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Luis Bunuel, friend and contemporary of fellow Spaniard Salvador Dali, was the cinematic equivalent of his compatriot: an artist who chose surrealism as his vehicle of expression. Bunuel also had one heck of a funny bone -- alternately scathing and light-hearted, subtle and vulgar. There's nothing cooler than genius with a sense of humor.

How to describe Bunuel's terrifically imaginative "Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"? Think Monty Python...in French. The film is like a matryoshka, one of those Russian toys that get smaller as you open each successive doll. Its story is told through a series of unfolding dreams that open one into the other with increasing amusement. Despite rare instances of gore and some potentially offensive material (Catholics may dislike the priest's role), "Charm" is consistently funny, often hilarious, and ALWAYS stimulating.

With this issue, Criterion has released one of their best products to date. The film itself appears slightly washed out (a common look for 70s movies), but it's clean about 90% of the time. Since there is little music and few sound effects, the audio quality scores as reasonable. Two nice documentaries are included, one better than the other. The subtitles caused few concerns; there were only a few, infrequent typos. This package is a must for lovers of foreign cinema, and a worthy addition to any DVD collection.

My willingness to explore has once again yielded happy results. "Charm" has quickly become one of my all-time favorites, right up there with the best Hollywood productions. Take the plunge and ignore any misgivings about "art films" with subtitles. If you fall prey to the herd mentality -- or your own timidity -- you'll miss out on one of the most humorous and interesting films in ANY language. "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" is a nearly fool-proof cure for the "foreignfilmophobic."