I am a great admirer of Luis Bunuel’s work, and this is one
of my favourite films.
The film is about a dinner party set in a grand house where,
after their meal, the elegant and sophisticated guests are, for no explicable
reason unable to leave the drawing room.
The logic of the story decrees that nothing physical or
psychological is keeping each guest from simply leaving the room. They are just
unable to leave, and that is that.
Gradually, the guests become dishevelled, both in their
physical appearance and their manners, until we are witness to their basest
instincts and unrefined characters.
What I like about Bunuel’s films, in particular this one and
two subsequent ones Belle de Jour and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, is
his perfection in creating surreal happenings in otherwise normal
circumstances. Of course it can be argued that surrealism, like dream logic,
only works when it has a basis in reality. Bunuel’s recurring themes: class,
society, religion, sex, work perfectly in his surrealist domain because they are exactly the types of
subjects which prey on people’s psyche. They are subjects which propel people
to act in the way they do, as well as to confound both their conscious and
subconscious.
The Exterminating Angel works well for me because we are
presented with how people behave in a situation over which they have no power.
We scratch under the surface, and we force people together, not unlike JG
Ballard’s High Rise, for such a time until they are no longer able to continue
with their pretences, and their human survival instinct comes to the fore.
The ‘deadpan absurdity’ Bunuel does so well is what I want
to use in my work in order to get my message across. I feel it can bring out
both the sadness and humour from the subject of isolation and modern-day
living.
El ángel exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) (1962) Directed by Luis Bunuel [Film]. Mexico: Producciones Gustavo Alatriste
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