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My Last Sigh: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel

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The US edition has curious omissions compared to the French original. In one omitted passage (IIRC) Bunuel mentions a postcard he received from Andrzej Wajda. It would be nice if the fine print for the book included "Portions of the original have been omitted for this edition." The recent Ken Mogg's book on Alfred Hitchcock has also been shortened for the American market. I find it quite annoying.

Bunuel gave some interviews towards the end of his life discussing his long list of movies. That's why I was delighted to find that his autobiography--which is one of the greatest, if not the greatest by a filmmaker--does not dwell on them. Instead Don Luis chronicles his childhood and upbringing, the relationships he cultivated, and meditates on life, love, death, art, alcohol and cigarettes. Many of the stories from his younger days are even more surreal than his movies. He writes in detail about his stormy friendships with Garcia Lorca and Dali, about his half-hearted attempt to try Hollywood on for size, meetings with Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, and others. The book is not somber or sentimental, it's not over-inflated. Bunuel's voice does not intimidate, it soothes. He's a master storyteller, a very gifted and generous writer.

Writings by film directors tend to resemble their films, and "My Last Sigh" is no exception. Bunuel's films are anarchic, funny, unpredictable, subversive, and often disturbing in a way that's hard to pin down. So is this, his autobiography!

Though he disclaims literary talent, Bunuel turns out to be a wonderful writer, and the book is stuffed with piquant anecdotes and elegant observations. I'm afraid to quote examples, because this review would go on forever. Suffice to say that, if you could choose to live any person's life, Bunuel's would be a hard choice to beat, just for the adventure and entertainment value. This may be my favorite book written by a filmmaker.

"My Last Sigh" is the most enrapturing biography ever left to us by a great filmmaker. Luis Bunuel remains one of the true masters of the cinema, a director with a distinctive style and taste that makes his movies both timeless and exquisite. His bio is like his films, a work filled with passion, freedom, violence and humor, and of course, surrealism. Here Bunuel describes his priviliged upbringing in Spain and his friendships with poet Federico Garcia Lorca and painter Salvador Dali. It is especially interesting to hear Bunuel speak of his appreciation for both these men, their brilliance and influences on him (Lorca introduced him to the world of poetry he writes). It is especially fascinating to read about his entrance into the surrealist movement and the anarchy and personal freedom the movement expressed. It is here where he and Dali make "Un Chien Andalou," one of the classics of the cinema with the notorious shot of a razor slicing across a woman's eyeball, this was followed by the scandalous "L'Age D'or" which was banned for nearly 50 years. Bunuel is also a great tourist here, detailing in great fashion cultural differences and experiences as when he moves in exile to Mexico where he makes classics like the influental "Los Olvidados," "Simon Of The Desert," "The Exterminating Angel" and "Viridiana." Bunuel reveals cultural realities of the Mexican populace that are as true today as then. This is a book that also breathes for a passion for life, in wonderful detail Bunuel dedicates chapters to simply the things he has enjoyed in life, appreciated and to those things which have obsessed him. There's a great chapter on his view about Love. He writes with an intellectual yet poetic and personal style that makes this book not stale at all but enjoyable and memorable. When one looks at his body of work, especially the European films like "Belle De Jour," "Diary Of A Chambermaid," "That Obscure Object Of Desire" and "The Phantom Of Liberty," especially "The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgousie," it is evident Bunuel was a driven, obsessed artist and this book also reveals he was a man of humor and good taste. This is required reading for any fan of the cinema and anyone who feels the true surrealist call.

I decided to read this book after being completely baffled by The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. I thought reading the book might help me find the rational narrative that the film seemed to have lacked. This book has turned my conception about art on its head. It clarifies and illuminates. It also amuses.

I can say this book changed my life when I read it. I was eighteen years old and loved Buñuel's wild, masterful films, but as soon as I read this book I realized his life had been another masterpiece, just as the poet Federico García Lorca (one of Buñuel's closest friends) was a masterpiece himself. This book is deep, touching, provoking, and it's amazingly well written. You can see life in it. You get to know a man in search for freedom, full of passion and contradictions. A marxist bourgeois, a christian atheist, a brute dilettant who enjoyed classical music and rude jokes. One of the most talented men of our era. An enigma. A genius.

As a young person, don Luis helped me find my way out of the hormone fog, ... authoritarian adults and their institutions, and equally lost peers. Years later upon reading MY LAST SIGH, I was not surprised at all at the depth of don Luis' humanity and intelligence.

Nevermind the moniker "filmmaker" when talking about don Luis; he is an artist's artist. With his autobio, he only confirms what an equally supreme being he was. I miss him. However, encounter this book and become lit by life itself.

I find Bunuel is a director that one tends to either love or hate, and that this opinion is usually based upon the viewing of his (arguably) most famous film, "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie."

[I saw this film more than thirty years ago when I was in college, and I can't say that I was much impressed. In fact, I distinctly recall walking out of the theater wondering what the hell it was all about.]

Surprisingly (given my tepid emotions towards Bunuel-the-filmmaker), one day I happened to pick up his autobiography, "My Last Sigh," and I quickly found myself captivated by Bunuel's storytelling.

From his descriptions of the medieval-like life in the town of his youth to his adventures with the Surrealists (as well as his recipe for the perfect martini), Bunuel is a gifted raconteur, and this has become one of my favorite books to read and re-read.

The book was originally published in French. Never the less, the English translation (by Abigail Israel in the edition I have) is a joy to read -- giving the impression that English, and not French, was the book's original language.

Finally...despite the much deeper appreciation of Bunuel that I now have, I have to admit that I'm still not a great fan of "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie." However, I have since had a chance to see some of his other films (such as Viridiana) and have very much enjoyed them.

Luis Bunuel pours out his beliefs, whether right or wrong. It raises questions on faith and leaves the reader with the feeling that there is no single truth to anything and everything. It is a poetic book on discovery of life and self.

The late, great, Luis Buñuel's memoir is one of my 3 favorite books in all the world. Bunuel does not hesitate to be frank about his deepest thoughts and fears, and in doing so, illuminates his superb and unique place in cinema history. This book should forever dispel the notion that Buñuel was an "intellectual" filmmaker. Indeed, no other filmmaker has ever had so pure an id-directed vision. There are other rewards as well, in Buñuel's accounts of his andalusian youth and introduction to the surrealists, and his friendships with Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dali. A genuine delight of a read!