102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

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DarkImbecile
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102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:20 pm

Three Films by Luis Buñuel

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More than four decades after he took a razorblade to an eyeball and shocked the world with Un chien andalou, arch-iconoclast Luis Buñuel capped his astonishing career with three final provocations—The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, and That Obscure Object of Desire—in which his renegade, free-associating surrealism reached its audacious, self-detonating endgame. Working with such key collaborators as screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and his own frequent on-screen alter ego Fernando Rey, Buñuel laced his scathing attacks on religion, class pretension, and moral hypocrisy with savage violence to create a trio of subversive, brutally funny masterpieces that explore the absurd randomness of existence. Among the director’s most radical works as well as some of his greatest international triumphs, these films cemented his legacy as cinema’s most incendiary revolutionary.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
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In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to a dinner that is continually delayed, their attempts to eat thwarted by vaudevillian events both actual and imagined, including terrorist attacks, military maneuvers, and ghostly apparitions. Stringing together a discontinuous, digressive series of absurdist set pieces, Buñuel and his screenwriting partner Jean-Claude Carrière send a cast of European-film greats—including Fernando Rey, Stéphane Audran, Delphine Seyrig, and Jean-Pierre Cassel—through a maze of desire deferred, frustrated, and interrupted. The Oscar-winning pinnacle of Buñuel’s late-career ascent as a feted maestro of the international art house, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is also one of his most gleefully radical assaults on the values of the ruling class.

The Phantom of Liberty
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Luis Buñuel’s vision of the inherent absurdity of human social rituals reaches its taboo-annihilating extreme in what may be his most morally subversive and formally audacious work. Zigzagging across time and space, from the Napoleonic era to the present day, The Phantom of Liberty unfolds as a picaresque, its main character traveling between tableaux in a series of Dadaist non sequiturs. Unbound by the laws of narrative logic, Buñuel lets his surrealist’s id run riot in an exuberant revolt against bourgeois rationality that seems telegraphed directly from his unconscious to the screen.

That Obscure Object of Desire
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Luis Buñuel’s final film brings full circle the director’s lifelong preoccupation with the darker side of desire. Buñuel regular Fernando Rey plays Mathieu, an urbane widower, tortured by his lust for the elusive Conchita. With subversive flair, Buñuel uses two different actors in the latter role—Carole Bouquet, a sophisticated French beauty, and Ángela Molina, a Spanish coquette. Drawn from the surrealist favorite Pierre Louÿs’s classic erotic novel La femme et le pantin (The Woman and the Puppet, 1898), That Obscure Object of Desire is a dizzying game of sexual politics punctuated by a terror that harks back to Buñuel’s avant-garde beginnings.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
  • New high-definition digital restorations of all three films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
  • The Castaway of Providence Street, a 1971 homage to Luis Buñuel made by his longtime friends and fellow filmmakers Arturo Ripstein and Rafael Castanedo
  • Speaking of Buñuel, a documentary from 2000 on Buñuel’s life and work
  • Once Upon a Time: “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” a 2011 television program about the making of the film
  • Interviews from 2000 with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière on The Phantom of Liberty and That Obscure Object of Desire
  • Archival interviews on all three films featuring Carrière; actors Stéphane Audran, Muni, Michel Piccoli, and Fernando Rey; and other key collaborators
  • Documentary from 1985 about producer Serge Silberman, who worked with Buñuel on five of his final seven films
  • Analysis of The Phantom of Liberty from 2017 by film scholar Peter William Evans
  • Lady Doubles, a 2017 documentary featuring actors Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina, who share the role of Conchita in That Obscure Object of Desire
  • Portrait of an Impatient Filmmaker, Luis Buñuel, a 2012 short documentary featuring director of photography Edmond Richard and assistant director Pierre Lary
  • Excerpts from Jacques de Baroncelli’s 1929 silent film La femme et le pantin, an adaptation of Pierre Louÿs’s 1898 novel of the same name, on which That Obscure Object of Desire is also based
  • Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack for That Obscure Object of Desire
  • Trailers
  • New English subtitle translations
    PLUS: Essays by critic Adrian Martin and novelist and critic Gary Indiana, along with interviews with Buñuel by critics José de la Colina and Tomás Pérez Turrent
———

Past Discussion Threads:
102 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
290 The Phantom of Liberty
143 That Obscure Object of Desire

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domino harvey
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#2 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:24 pm

Since I already have the UK StudioCanal box with all these and many more, this is an easy pass

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#3 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:32 pm

The Phantom of Liberty is probably my favorite Bunuel, depending on the day against The Milky Way, so I'm thrilled to see an analytical feature dedicated to it at the very least

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Pavel
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#4 Post by Pavel » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:38 pm

Exciting release, even though I'm in no rush to revisit Discreet Charm or Obscure Object.

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domino harvey
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#5 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:40 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:32 pm
The Phantom of Liberty is probably my favorite Bunuel, depending on the day against The Milky Way, so I'm thrilled to see an analytical feature dedicated to it at the very least
All the “new” extras are on the StudioCanal discs as well

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#6 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:52 pm

Ah yes, I see I added that set to my Amazon.uk wishlist August 2017 and never looked back. Well, unless there's any invaluable treasures on there exclusively, I guess I'll join the rest of the delayed region A crowd and upgrade this way.

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domino harvey
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#7 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:54 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:52 pm
Ah yes, I see I added that set to my Amazon.uk wishlist August 2017 and never looked back. Well, unless there's any invaluable treasures on there exclusively, I guess I'll join the rest of the delayed region A crowd and upgrade this way.
Here’s the breakdown

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dwk
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#8 Post by dwk » Wed Dec 23, 2020 3:44 pm


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Pavel
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#9 Post by Pavel » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:01 pm

No nude scene from Obscure Object? :-k

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#10 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:07 pm

Am I alone in thinking that a few of those frames make the SC blus look superior?

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EddieLarkin
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#11 Post by EddieLarkin » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:14 pm

I hope so. The Criterion is much better for both films, and for once has the superior compression.

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Pavel
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#12 Post by Pavel » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:21 pm

Out of all the members of the forum, I probably have the least sharp eye when it comes to picture quality (as proven time and time again by people complaining about things I don't and often can't notice), so it's no surprise I barely see a difference (on Discreet Charm at least; differences on Obscure Object are more visible).

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EddieLarkin
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#13 Post by EddieLarkin » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:27 pm

Pavel wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:21 pm
(on Discreet Charm at least; differences on Obscure Object are more visible).
Not surprising given Obscure Object is a different transfer whereas Discreet Charm is just the same source but with better compression, and slightly differing colours.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#14 Post by Rayon Vert » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:36 pm

The image looks generally a little sharper but redder on the Criterions.

When it comes to subtitles...
"One o'clock would be perfect." (SC)
"Around o'clock." (Criterion)
... it's a draw as they get both get it half right.

Original: ""Francois est d’accord pour samedi. Vers une heure ça serait parfait." (Which translate more exactly to: "Francois is in agreement for Saturday. Around one o'clock would be perfect.")

;)

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#15 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:55 pm

I wish they compared Phantom of Liberty to the SC since it's my favorite, but oh well. I bought the SC Bunuel box recently on domino's advice upthread, because it was cheap enough where for under the price of this three-film set on a 50% sale you get more films. These transfers don't seem to be glaringly better, and even the Obscure Object doesn't strike me as a significant upgrade- but I'm like Pavel and often don't notice a lot of PQ discrepancies others do.

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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#16 Post by Stefan Andersson » Fri May 07, 2021 12:04 pm

Re: That Obscure Object of Desire -- the actress who dubbed Bouquet and Molina was Florence Giorgetti:
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts ... re-denuded

Editor Hélène Plemiannikov found the actress:
https://womenfilmeditors.princeton.edu/ ... ov-helene/

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omegadirective
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#17 Post by omegadirective » Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:17 pm

I just picked this up in the B&N sale.
Im someone who organizes their Criterions by spine number... so i have to choose where to put this set.
Where do you guys put the set on your shelves?

Im thinking at position 290.

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willoneill
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#18 Post by willoneill » Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:24 pm

If I had the set, it would go in spot 102 in my collection. That’s how I roll.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#19 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:31 pm

omegadirective wrote:
Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:17 pm
Where do you guys put the set on your shelves?
I did spine number at the start of collecting, and kept it up for far too long between a few moves since it was easiest to pack and unpack my movies in boxes and onto the shelf without reorganizing. However after this recent move I decided to stop the madness. If I had this set (I have the Studiocanal one, so no need) it would go in the Bunuel section, or in the miscellaneous Criterion box sets section, since I arbitrarily pick some directors to organize by and oscillate between putting them back in with the rest of the alphabetical lot. My system isn't rock-solid but it's much better than spine number, in my experience

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The Pachyderminator
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#20 Post by The Pachyderminator » Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:15 pm

Put each individual film in its place by spine number and throw away the box.

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swo17
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#21 Post by swo17 » Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:36 pm

In the Buñuel section, in between the Marx Bros. and Mamoulian sections because The Cocoanuts came out 5/23/29, Un chien andalou 6/6/29, and Applause 10/7/29

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jwd5275
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#22 Post by jwd5275 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:44 pm

swo17 wrote:
Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:36 pm
The Cocoanuts came out 5/23/29, Un chien andalou 6/6/29, and Applause 10/7/29
Proof that swo17 is from the future...

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omegadirective
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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#23 Post by omegadirective » Sun Oct 03, 2021 10:42 am

Is there any particular reason these aren’t available individually?

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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#24 Post by cdnchris » Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:40 am

More than likely economics: figured each individual title wouldn't sell as well as a set. All three use the same masters as the DVDs and have been available in one way or another on Blu-ray around the world, so it's not as though they offer much that would be considered new.

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Re: 102, 143, 290 Three Films by Luis Buñuel

#25 Post by GTO » Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:10 pm

omegadirective wrote:
Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:17 pm
I just picked this up in the B&N sale.
Im someone who organizes their Criterions by spine number... so i have to choose where to put this set.
Where do you guys put the set on your shelves?

Im thinking at position 290.
How on earth do you find them? If I didn't keep them organized by director I'd be lost. One incredibly boring day I organized all my vinyl records by catalog number. That lasted a week.

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