Product Details

• Actors: Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran
• Directors: Luis Buñuel
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: French, Spanish
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Home Vision
• VHS Release Date: September 21, 2001
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Z1IR
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,721 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #53 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > France > Comedy
  #82 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > France > Classics

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

What can be more enjoyable then a meal among friends and family? In Luis Buñuel's surrealistic comedy The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie it is this common ritual a sextet of upper-class friends repeatedly attempt, only to be obstructed by one obscure event after another. Masterfully balancing the dichotomy of class vs. debauchery Buñuel delivers a ripping critique of the upper class. It is clear from the beginning that the lives Buñuel’s Bourgeoisie are living are not what they seem. Eventually, their true colors begin to shine; not in actual actions but in haunting dreams. What is real and what lies in the subconscious becoming exceedingly blurry and in order to deliver his message, surrealism must take over. It is hard to pigeonhole Buñuel’s classic that won him the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film 1972: An absurd odyssey? A discreet satire? Not necessarily, but definitely charming. --Rob Bracco

Product Description

This wicked Academy Award(tm) winning film from Luis Buñuel (Belle De Jour, Tristana) is a priceless satire on the absurd lifestyle of the upper class. As six well-to-do Europeans attempt to have a 'civilized' meal, their plans are continuously thwarted by unlikely, if not outrageous, circumstances. In a classic Buñuelian display, time and space gradually become meaningless, dreams and reality become indistinguishable, while the characters-remaining true to their nature and each other-continue along their chosen path. For Buñuel, who pioneered Surrealist cinema nearly five decades ago earlier, winning an Oscar® for this masterful send-up was long overdue.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF BUNUEL'S FINEST, September 18, 2000

By	Anthony Clarke (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - Criterion Collection (DVD)

This is one of Spanish director Luis Bunuel's finest, most subtle surrealist comedies. At least his films are often classed as comedies -- they're more an assault on our senses and conventions. The 'plot' (if one can call it that) unwinds slowly -- the fulcrum being the absurd situation of a group of socialite friends who are attempting to ....... no, better see for yourself than have me disclose it. It's enough to say that if you enjoy the Marx Brothers, or Pedro Almodovar, you'll adore Luis Bunuel. He has the comedy of the former and the anarchy of the latter, but his dagger is always that little bit sharper and more deadly. The promised Criterion issue is on two discs for a running time of almost three hours; the usual cinema version is less than two hours, so there must be some great supplements coming our way. Let's hope for more Bunuel on DVD -- next up should be his classic silent film 'Un Chien Andalou', in the 'sonorised' version prepared in the 1950s, when Bunuel himself added a soundtrack of the music he always envisaged as part of the film, ranging from Argentinian tangoes to the 'Love-Death' from 'Tristan and Isolde'.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great film, fantastic DVD package, April 20, 2001

By	Alexander Leach (Shipley, West Yorkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - Criterion Collection (DVD)

I have about 15 Criterion DVDs, and this is probably the best: a wonderful surreal comedy given a fabulous transfer to DVD. When the excellent extras are included this is outstanding package.

The film will not be to everybody's taste: if you tend to favour no-brainer farces like 'Dumb & Dumber', I'd advise you to give this one a miss. However if you enjoy the films of Woody Allen, the Coen brothers and fine cinema generally you will enjoy this film, especially as the performances are wonderful: the urbane Fernando Rey, sexy Stephane Audran, and the bumbling Paul Frankeur are perfectly cast.

The anamorphic image is outstanding: vividly clear with beautiful colours, and no nicks or flecks at all. Just beam up the sequence where the guests arrive for lunch near the beginning of the film (about 20 or so minutes in) and marvel at the luscious greens of the foliage as the car comes up the drive.

Bunuel's direction is understated, but that is his genius in this film: in lesser hands this rambling tale with its bizarre dream sequences interpolated would have been a shambles, but the 'story' is so tautly told and perfectly paced.

The shorter documentary is not so interesting, but the 105 minutes one is fascinating.

A desert island DVD set.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dinner is Served, April 29, 2003

By	Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - Criterion Collection (DVD)

Director Luis Bunuel is often described as a surrealist, but the word misapplied in reference to his later works; rather than present the viewer with an odd visual display, he prefers to first create a plausible reality and then progressively undercut it with an increasingly implausible series of events. Such is the case with the Academy Award-winning THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, which begins with four friends who arrive at their hosts' home only to discover they have arrived on the wrong night--a plausible situation. But before the film has run its course, Bunuel unravels his tale of a meal that never quite happens in the most unexpected ways imaginable.

The film works on several levels, mocking social conventions, the church, and eventually spilling its action into a series of overlapping nightmares in which various attempts to dine are frustrated by everything from the corpse of a restaurant manager in a nearby room to military manouvers. On one memorable occasion, the friends are invited to dine and are seated around an elegant table--when a curtain suddenly rises behind them and reveals them to be seated on a stage before a hostile audience!

The cast (which features Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Frankeur, Bulle Ogier, Stephane Audran and Jean-Pierre Cassel as the constantly frustrated diners) plays with considerable aplomb, performing the most irrational scenes with a magnificent realism. When combined with Bunuel's absurdist story, the result is a disquieting yet often very funny discourse on frustrated appetites both real and imagined, and with many layers of incidental meaning along the way.

The DVD package is very nice, with the film in near-pristine condition and a host of interesting and often amusing extras, and Bunuel fans will consider it more than worth the rather hefty price-tag attached. But a word of caution to the uninitiated: Bunuel is not for those who seek a tidy plot line with clear-cut meanings. If you are not already a fan, you should probably begin with his equally complex but somewhat more accessible and considerably more subtle BELLE DE JOUR before diving off into DISCREET CHARM.

--GFT (Amazon reviewer)--