Capsules

I'm going to post occasional capsule reviews of films on here and they're as likely to be of classics watched on video or DVD as they are of new releases.

Anyway I finally got around to watching Luis Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie the other night and I've just been browsing through the user comments for it at IMDB to see whether I agree with them. Because I enjoyed the film a lot and I didn't expect to.

Unlike Bunuel, I don't hate the middle class and I don't have anything in particular against the church. His obsessions are outdated.

There are terrorists in this film (as there are in his later That Obscure Object of Desire, for example). In that these revolutionaries are the enemy of the bourgeoisie, perhaps Bunuel would sympathise with them even today, and I would hate him for it.

But Bunuel's opinions are worthless to me. His films lead me into confusing dreams and then abandon me. That'll do.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is not as dark as Bunuel at his darkest. If it once bit as social satire, it doesn't now, but then it doesn't need to bother. In 2004, it's a piece of provocative fun.