IMDb RATING
8.0/10
36K
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The guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.The guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.The guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.
- Awards
- 4 wins & 2 nominations
José Baviera
- Leandro Gomez
- (as Jose Baviera)
Luis Beristáin
- Cristián Ugalde
- (as Luis Beristain)
César del Campo
- Alvaro
- (as Cesar Del Campo)
Enrique García Álvarez
- Alberto Roc
- (as Enrique Garcia Alvarez)
Ofelia Guilmáin
- Juana Avila
- (as Ofelia Guilmain)
Xavier Loyá
- Francisco Avila
- (as Xavier Loya)
Xavier Massé
- Eduardo
- (as Xavier Masse)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLuis Buñuel has publicly stated that he considers the film a failure and that if he had shot it later in Paris, he would have gone more extreme with it (cannibalism).
- GoofsAfter the butler trips in the dining room, the lady of the house follows him into the kitchen. While they speak the boom mic can clearly be seen at the bottom of the screen, extending out from under a table.
- Quotes
Rita Ugalde: I believe the common people, the lower class people, are less sensitive to pain. Haven't you ever seen a wounded bull? Not a trace of pain.
[Creo que la gente del pueblo, la gente baja, es menos sensible al dolor. ¿Usted ha visto un toro herido alguna vez? Impasible]
- Alternate versionsIn the uncut print (featured on the Criterion DVD) the guests enter the mansion and go upstairs twice. Some versions omit the surrealistic second arrival.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Le contrôle de l'univers (1999)
Featured review
Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad {Luis Bunuel}
Surrealism has amongst its artistic goals, a revolutionary destruction of the social forms that stand in the way of the "creative", and instead, are moribund in their repetitive rigidity. The arch villain in Bunuel's Book of Social Crimes is the exploitative institution of the bourgeois. This, ruling class, is held in contempt in most of Bunuel's films, but most notably in this movie.
The movie opens with a Catholic Cathedral, funereal music, and sheep as the congregation. Bunuel's bourgeois are Catholic adherents of Karl Marx's "Opium of the People" {his description of the role of religion in society}.
The scene then shifts to a plutocratic mansion, where a gathering of the rich and cultured is to take place, in which one of the most holy sacraments of bourgeois society is about to begin. The social ritual in which assorted bourgeois people sit at a large banquet table and are plied with different courses of elegantly prepared food by foot servants, which had been anxiously and expertly prepared by the chef and his kitchen staff.
Bunuel alerts us {the viewers} early as to the incipient chaos to follow by having the kitchen staff abandon their conventional order of events by unpredictably walking off the job. This strange/peculiar juxtaposition of that which is predictable sets the stage for the arrival of the Exterminating Angel, whom we never see physically, but are made aware of as the movie progresses.
The evening progresses as the depleted staff serves dinner to the narcissists gathered at the table. The central theme in this movie is reached when Bunuel applies a primitive form of magic and superstition to the apparently "modern man", represented at the bourgeois dinner party. This tradition often described in Frazier's "The Golden Bough" is the drawing of a circle around a primitive victim by a shaman from which there is no escape. The victim will not, {because of fear and superstition}, step across the line and break the circle. The result is a lingering death paralyzed within the chalked circle.
At the end of the dinner, and after pleasantries and some cultivated appreciation of classical piano playing, the invisible circle is chalked at the exit to the dining-room leaving the assorted guests unable to perform the act of taking their leave and departing.
Here you have the central issue of the film, as the bourgeois guests descend into a nightmarish hell of inertia, apathy and utter lack of resourcefulness, so that the typical bourgeois traits of herd-like conformity, self interest and alienation become stumbling blocks to the simple human capacity to act. No action is possible as the vile, dark side of the inner bourgeois personality is slowly revealed. They sleep, they dream, {often surrealistically}, they harbour murderous resentment {as scapegoats for their dilemma are sought}. Everything is in stasis, nothing can break the spell { a magic ritual with chicken legs is attempted, but fails}. People die, lovers commit suicide, sheep {the lamb of God?} are eaten as civilization, of which the human social phenomenon of the bourgeois can be considered to be its apex, crumbles back into the cesspool of primal soup from which it developed.
The spell is eventually broken when one of the guests remembers the alchemical and ancient magical practice of reenacting the events that led up to the circle being drawn but then changing its chain of magical order by leaving, {like an automaton}, at the usual time and manner
The movie then reverts back to the prologue with the sheep entering the Cathedral, in order to worship. An utterly amazing movie!!
The movie opens with a Catholic Cathedral, funereal music, and sheep as the congregation. Bunuel's bourgeois are Catholic adherents of Karl Marx's "Opium of the People" {his description of the role of religion in society}.
The scene then shifts to a plutocratic mansion, where a gathering of the rich and cultured is to take place, in which one of the most holy sacraments of bourgeois society is about to begin. The social ritual in which assorted bourgeois people sit at a large banquet table and are plied with different courses of elegantly prepared food by foot servants, which had been anxiously and expertly prepared by the chef and his kitchen staff.
Bunuel alerts us {the viewers} early as to the incipient chaos to follow by having the kitchen staff abandon their conventional order of events by unpredictably walking off the job. This strange/peculiar juxtaposition of that which is predictable sets the stage for the arrival of the Exterminating Angel, whom we never see physically, but are made aware of as the movie progresses.
The evening progresses as the depleted staff serves dinner to the narcissists gathered at the table. The central theme in this movie is reached when Bunuel applies a primitive form of magic and superstition to the apparently "modern man", represented at the bourgeois dinner party. This tradition often described in Frazier's "The Golden Bough" is the drawing of a circle around a primitive victim by a shaman from which there is no escape. The victim will not, {because of fear and superstition}, step across the line and break the circle. The result is a lingering death paralyzed within the chalked circle.
At the end of the dinner, and after pleasantries and some cultivated appreciation of classical piano playing, the invisible circle is chalked at the exit to the dining-room leaving the assorted guests unable to perform the act of taking their leave and departing.
Here you have the central issue of the film, as the bourgeois guests descend into a nightmarish hell of inertia, apathy and utter lack of resourcefulness, so that the typical bourgeois traits of herd-like conformity, self interest and alienation become stumbling blocks to the simple human capacity to act. No action is possible as the vile, dark side of the inner bourgeois personality is slowly revealed. They sleep, they dream, {often surrealistically}, they harbour murderous resentment {as scapegoats for their dilemma are sought}. Everything is in stasis, nothing can break the spell { a magic ritual with chicken legs is attempted, but fails}. People die, lovers commit suicide, sheep {the lamb of God?} are eaten as civilization, of which the human social phenomenon of the bourgeois can be considered to be its apex, crumbles back into the cesspool of primal soup from which it developed.
The spell is eventually broken when one of the guests remembers the alchemical and ancient magical practice of reenacting the events that led up to the circle being drawn but then changing its chain of magical order by leaving, {like an automaton}, at the usual time and manner
The movie then reverts back to the prologue with the sheep entering the Cathedral, in order to worship. An utterly amazing movie!!
helpful•63
- Stanley-Becker
- Aug 7, 2011
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $1,843
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Color
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By what name was The Exterminating Angel (1962) officially released in India in English?
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