The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 4K 1972 FRENCH

'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' is a textbook Buñuel film. Indeed, Bunuel the Surrealist, Bunuel the anti-clerical, and Bunuel the classical. I'd like to warn the viewer right away: interpreting Bunuel is an interesting business, but always associated with an extremely subjective interpretation - you either have to sit and think your own thoughts, or accept someone else's point of view, there is no single correct opinion.

What can we say about 'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'? After reading the film's synopsis and reviews, a viewer might think that our bourgeoisie did nothing but gobble up the entire film. Not so, viewer, they indulged in other ways of pleasurable pastime. But they indulged in them in such a way that it became clear that their life could not make up a story and have purpose and meaning. Their life is like that road demonstrated to us by Buñuel, along which they, from time to time, walk in a dejected fashion: where they are coming from, where they are going, and why, where they are now, it is not clear. One bad infinity of being, defining consciousness. What they live with, where they work, how they got a position in society (apart from the illegal ways) is not shown. But it shows how they taste the fruits of their well-being with pleasure.

And again about food. It is shown in such a way that it cannot evoke any associations other than Freudian and, perhaps, Marxist-Leninist ones. Or so: eating is like ritual, only ritual without content. It's as if they never get enough - only the ambassador of a nonexistent country seems to have had enough sausage, sitting under the table while his comrades are shot.

And perhaps the most remarkable moment in the film is the dreams, in which the characters' fears seem to burst in - death, a duel, insult, embarrassment, laughter from those around them. But their main fear is the fear of exposure. Exposing the bourgeois pointlessness, emptiness and uselessness.