Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Fernando Rey stars as a diplomat from the country of "Miranda" who, along with his five constant friends, cannot seem to ever finish a meal. They are the bourgeoisie who are discreet in their sexual activities and their illegalities (Rey's character apparently smuggles cocaine) while maintaining a sort of absurd decorum in which good manners are paramount. A cafe runs out of tea, well, they will content themselves with coffee. No coffee, well, water will be fine. Guests arrive a day ahead of time, well, we'll go out instead, won't you join us. When a company of soldiers on maneuvers shows up at the house just as they are sitting down to dinner, they are invited to join them, and when the police come to arrest Rey, they all politely intercede only to follow him to jail. When the one finds that his wife is in his friend's bedroom, he is too polite to object.

Bunuel's technique runs realistic scenes into dream sequences without warning. When a soldier sits down to tea to tell his story of horror, all listen politely. When, for the umpteenth time they are a la table, a curtain parts and they find themselves on stage in front of an audience, they discreetly excuse themselves, saying they have forgotten their lines.

Of course Bunuel must have his little satire of the church, and here he uses a monseigneur who becomes a gardener who hears a last rites confession that reveals that the confessor murdered his, the monseigneur's, parents many years ago. The monseigneur politely and without being ruffled, allows that Jesus forgives him and leaves him in a state of grace, which soothes his conscience as he then picks up a shotgun....

So seamlessly does Bunuel weave his tapestry, that it's sometimes hard to tell when reality ends and the dreams begin, but that is perhaps the point. Our dreams are absurd of course, but then again so is our reality.


Has Not Aged Well   April 15, 2001
Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States)
11 out of 33 found this review helpful

Beginning in the mid-1950s and extending through the 70s, European film makers produced a large number of largely unintelligible films consisting of a series of dream-like symbolic scenes designed to appeal to self-styled intellectuals, which they then dumped on the American market with great success. Examples include "Hiroshima Mon Amor," "Last Year at Marienbad," and everything by Fellini and Bergman.

As evidenced by the other reviews on this page, these films still have their adherents, but more down-to-earth viewers are likely to be left feeling that these "artistic" efforts are simply pretentious wastes of time.

This particular film is one of the better ones of its type, although it does present a good deal of gratuitous violence and lasts 30 minutes too long.

Those who do enjoy it should try to obtain a copy of "L'Age d'Or" (1930), a collaboration between Bunuel and Salvador Dali which was immediately placed on the Catholic Church's Index and all but one copy of which was destroyed. In describing that effort, Bunuel said, "The sexual instinct and the sense of death form the substance of the film. It is a romantic film performed with full surrealistic frenzy." This description is equally applicable to "Discreet Charm," leaving the viewer questioning whether Bunuel, or surrealism, progressed during the 42-year interim or thereafter.


Couple of people trying to have some lunch ???!   October 19, 2002
Vlad (russianwriter.net)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Lois Bunuel at his best ! Few people trying to have some lunch ?! But everything goes wrong ... One of the smartest and funniest films , I've ever seen . The dream " stuff " working perfectly . This was a russian remake of it in late 80th - " Forgotten melody for the fluite ", with the use of the same " tricks " in it . Didn't really work . Just another robbery of an exellent idea ... nothing more . Get ready for very unusual , smart , deap , unpredictable film !


Excellent surrealism on film   June 24, 2004
Ted Merriman (Pennsylvania, USA)
10 out of 14 found this review helpful

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, under its original title "Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie" remains one of the most famous surrealist films. Directed by Luis Bunuel, the md credited with creating surrealsim on film does an excellent job in this film.

The story is about six high class people trying to have a meal together, each time they do so, they are interrupted one way or another. Each interruption becomes increasingly more unusual and humorous. The film has excellent acting and humor with great scenery of the French countryside.

This film also won an Academy Award for best Foreign language film. It is wel deserving of the award though the competition that year was not very difficult. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay and lost to "The Candidate"

The Criterion DVD has some great special features also. There is a theatrical trailer and two seperate biographies on Luis Bunuel. Disc 1 contains the film, the theatrical trailer, and a poorly pre-subtitled biography on Bunuel. This documentary is titled, "El naufrago de la calle de Providencia" or "The castaway on Providence Street" which originally aired on television in 1970 in Mexico It is 24 minutes in length.

Disc two contains an all new documentary "A proposito de Bunuel" or "Speaking of Bunuel". This documentary is 98 minutes long and is a retrospective on Bunuel's life intercut with footage of his movies and interviews with family and friends Bunuel. The subtitles on this documentary are a lot better. This documentary contains scenes that may not be suitable for children and young teens.


Dopey nonsense   October 11, 2005
R. Baker (Chicago, IL)
9 out of 45 found this review helpful

Sorry, I thought this was one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. It went nowhere, said nothing and made me feel like scraping my nails along the wall. No review has made me understand why people think this is a great film. I think people who say they like it just want to appear cool and hip. They would also have said that the emperor was wearing beautiful clothes. Do yourself a favor: Go pick up your dog's poop off the lawn instead of watching this movie.