The Exterminating Angel (1962) : A powerful and surrealist experience.
This is my first film of Luis Bunuel. It was surreal and the thoughts varied through my mind. It gave a numerous and variety of questions of what the film is leaving for many interpretations. The Exterminating Angel (1962) had an interesting plot, as to why I chose this as my first choice instead of the famous Viridiana (1961) or Belle de jour (1967). It can be described as a morbid comedy that has a scathing take on the human nature. The plot was interesting because it takes a group of people of the upper class and shove them in a single house where they are not able to leave the room in which they are situated in. Why are they not able to leave? What is stopping them? This question was fascinating, and the fascination runs through the whole film.
Initially Bunuel sets up with small anecdotes of the situation like at the start of the film on how the servants and cook want to leave before the dinner begins and they obtain a bear and some sheep for entertainment for the guests which eventually needs to be scrapped. These small details of the luxurious setup are represented in the first 30 minutes or so. They finish having a successful dinner and then the social interactions happen between them, a sequence of scenes with gossip, social and professional backgrounds of characters, their illicit relationships and the high-class demeanour with over-bearing representations of the characters. It looks normal as they finish playing the piano, but a series of subtle developments happen even with dialogues from both the host and hostess as to why no one has the thought of leaving. It later becomes obvious no one can leave. They even try but for some reason they are not able to leave that drawing room and some invisible entity is blocking them. What is that invisible entity? we may never know.
There is the blatant allegory of the rich being put on the spot of the poor. For example, how the group take an axe and try to break a pipe on the wall for water as they are deprived of the availability of any liquid or food. Time is unknown and they stay there for hours to days to weeks in which they cannot foretell. There are moments of surrealism like how two lovers killing themselves or how one guest gets a dream of a moving hand from the dead body that they locked up. Also, their waning to hedonistic pleasures of morphine and random intimacy of the guests. It is as if they are put on the brink of civilization which can be exemplified on how the sheep that were used for entertainment wanders to their room and they use that opportunity to eat the animal. They even perform rituals to overcome whatever they are dealing with. The invisible entity becomes an expression of the audience and drives the mystery through. These sequences can be a critique of social upper class and religion which I read that Bunuel is known for, but what makes this film more horrific is the deeper meaning that it might convey.
Another brilliance of the film is the trope of being in one room for 50 to 60 minutes of the runtime and sustaining that thrill for the entirety. The camera work with simplicity and the actors are distinct. His film technique was influenced by Mise-en-scène and use of music to tell his story. He was also riled up in controversy due to his political leanings and iconoclast nature. His freedom for art expression has been supressed but after the international success of Viridiana he made “The Exterminating Angel. He made a resounding name for himself through the surrealist movement and has been etched as one of the great directors. My first experience of his film has left me wanting more and the amount of fantastic work left behind in his filmography leaves more to desire.
"The Exterminating Angel" begins with the statement, "The best explanation of this film is that, from the standpoint of pure reason, there is no explanation." The subtlety to which Bunuel uses these methods to convey frightening happenings for the guests leaves us enchanted and makes the audience think as to why any of this is happening. What is the logic behind any of this or what exactly is “The Exterminating Angel”. None of this will be ever answered it is left to the audience for that interpretation as any good painting or work of art, this film is in that same stature, and we just need to experience it.