The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Directed by Luis Buñuel
In the fictitious Republic of Miranda, a microcosm of the Parisian bourgeois milieu, there are undoubtedly obstacles you’ll encounter upon trying to ingest a meal. These hysterical interruptions are Buñuel’s deliberate larks: the sobs of a restaurant staff upon their owner’s death, the lament of a French army soldier, and a bloodthirsty bishop with a passion for botany. A group of friends—intertwined by drug smuggling, alcoholism, and sexual depravity—parade through dream-within-dreamscapes and obscure realities, driven by the common interest of eating together. You must sustain considerable aplomb when traveling through the hysterical, intersecting discourse of such a chimerical world—good manners are paramount in this japing of social morality. Samantha Vacca (June 2, 4pm 7:30pm at FIAF’s retrospective of screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière; preceded by Carrière and Pierre Etaix’s 1962 short Heureux Anniversaire)