The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
A film by Luis Buņuel
A group of four guests arrive at the home of a couple to have dinner, but the lady of the house says they've arrived a day early. One of the guests suggests going to eat at a local inn he knows. They arrive there to find the inn's owner has died and his body is in an adjacent room. And so begins the constantly frustrating quest to eat for this group of six bourgeois friends. They are distracted and prevented by the army, the police, poor restaurants and surreal occurrences. Like one where a red curtain unveils an audience watching them eat on a stage.
The most prominent character is Raphael, played superbly by Fernando Rey. He is the ambassador of the Republic of Miranda. He is also a drug smuggler and is stalked by a terrorist woman. There is also a priest who enters the house of one of the group, and gets the job of being their gardener. He later visits an old dying gardener to give him absolution, and it transpires the dying man requests forgiveness for killing the priest's parents. The priest tells God to forgive him, then promptly shoots him with a shotgun.
The ambassador Raphael continually has his country insulted. A soldier keeps insulting Miranda, so Raphael shoots him. Just when you think the group will never get to dine, they begin and are interrupted by a gun-toting group of villains. There is then a memorable shot of Raphael cowering under the table finally eating a piece of meat. But is it all a dream? And is the end sequence (which is shown several times throughout the film) a dream? A brilliantly acted masterpiece. It won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1972.
"A perfect synthesis of surreal wit and blistering social assault." - Jan Dawson, MFB
