83-85 Nothing Is Sacred: Three Heresies by Luis Buñuel

[domino harvey]

From 1946 to 1965, Luis Buñuel directed 21 films in Mexico, the country that became his naturalised home. Towards the end of this period, the great master of surrealism would meet two of his most important collaborators - the husband-and-wife duo of producer Gustavo Alatriste and actress Silvia Pinal - and together they would create three of his most provocative and enduring works: Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Simon of the Desert (1965). Presented here in new restorations, all three films are frequently hailed as some of the greatest of all time. All of what makes Buñuel one of the greatest of directors can be found within them: the startling imagery, the uncompromising surrealism, the wicked humour, the unapologetic eroticism, and the overwhelming disdain for contemporary boundaries of good taste.

In Viridiana, Pinal stars as a former nun who, believing she has been defiled by a relative, abandons nunhood and attempts to repent and lead a morally pure existence by turning a mansion into a shelter for vagrants. Hugely controversial on release, this brilliant satire remains shocking today, and was voted the best Spanish film of all time by Spanish critics in 2016.

The Exterminating Angel is one of Buñuel's most extraordinary and enduring works: after a night at the opera, a group of bourgeois party guests realise that they are inexplicably unable to leave the dining room they are sequestered in, and quickly descend into savagery. An influential blend of horror, comedy, drama and social commentary, the film was named one of the 200 greatest of all time in the 2022 Sight and Sound Critics Poll.

Simon of the Desert is a typically outrageous and provocative commentary on organised religion: a parable of Simon, the would-be saint who lives an ascetic life at the top of a ten foot pillar, the film features a memorable turn from Pinal as the Devil, and an unforgettably bizarre ending.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

New 4K restorations of Viridiana and Simon of the Desert from the original negatives

A new restoration of The Exterminating Angel from a 4K scan by Radiance Films

Uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film

Newly filmed appreciations for each film and Buñuel by filmmakers Richard Ayoade, Alex Cox, Guillermo del Toro, and Lulu Wang

The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel - A BBC Arena documentary on Buñuel featuring contributions from Bunuel and collaborators including Catherine Deneuve, presented on Blu-ray for the first time (1983, 98 mins)

A Mexican Buñuel - A documentary directed by Emilio Maille on Buñuel’s Mexican period (1995, 50 minutes)

Buñuel: A Surrealist Filmmaker - A feature-length documentary directed by Javier Estpada on Buñuel’s life and career, presented on Blu-ray for the first time (2021, 83 mins)

An interview with Buñuel from 1964 recorded for French TV’s Cinéastes de notre temps (1964, 43 mins)

The Other Trinity: Alatriste, Buñuel and Pinal - A visual essay on Buñuel in Mexico by Abraham Castillo Flores

Dinner and Other Rituals - A visual essay on The Exterminating Angel and the dinner party on film by critic and writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Audio commentary on Viridiana by critic Michael Brooke

Audio commentary on Simon of the Desert by critic and filmmaker Kat Ellinger

Gallery of stills

Trailer

Optional English subtitles for each film

Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde

Limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Glenn Kenny, Justine Smith, Lindsay Hallam and David Hering, as well as archive material

Limited edition of 6000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[domino harvey]

Contains three films already released on disc by Criterion. What a disappointment, even if it’s nice to get the upgrades to Blu, to not get El etc

[Peacock]

I partly agree with Dom on this one, there are so many Bunuel’s without even decent DVDs, but that said who knows how long until Criterion would have gotten round to Viridiana and particularly Simon in HD. They make up for it with the absolute wealth of amazing extras so this will be an easy preorder for me!

Well done Radiance and hopefully it leads to more Bunuel down the line.

[MichaelB]

Viridiana was an absolute joy to work on. It's always daunting signing up to a full-length commentary because there's a voice constantly at the back of my mind going "can you really fill 90 minutes?" - but I've never had a commission for which I was able to dig up so much material, and by the end it was much more a question of what to leave out than what to put in. Not just the usual close analysis of the film but delightful asides such as the fact that cinematographer José F. Aguayo was a former bullfighter who took up a safer position behind the camera shooting newsreels about bullfighting after being gored, and from there he graduated to feature films. (Buñuel obviously liked him, as he rehired him for Tristana a decade later.)

It's bang up to the minute, too - serendipitously, this happened when I was planning what would go where.

[ryannichols7]

you guys are great but I can't accept the complaints on this one...I'm thrilled to have these. Criterion's Exterminating Angel is a massively disappointing disc, the master they used was pretty ancient. and the other two aren't even Blurays. there are a ton of extras here on top of 3 new restorations. it's known there's rights issues with so many of Buñuel's films, let alone restorations. trust me, I'd love to get Suzanna or Él as much as the next person (the latter is held by Criterion most likely since it's WCF, so good luck to all of us waiting)

these look very definitive and like it's said, I doubt Criterion is gonna touch the other two on Bluray for awhile. I'm excited for all these extras

[nicolas]

you guys are great but I can't accept the complaints on this one...I'm thrilled to have these. Criterion's Exterminating Angel is a massively disappointing disc, the master they used was pretty ancient. and the other two aren't even Blurays. there are a ton of extras here on top of 3 new restorations. it's known there's rights issues with so many of Buñuel's films, let alone restorations. trust me, I'd love to get Suzanna or Él as much as the next person (the latter is held by Criterion most likely since it's WCF, so good luck to all of us waiting)

these look very definitive and like it's said, I doubt Criterion is gonna touch the other two on Bluray for awhile. I'm excited for all these extras

Same over here - this is certainly going to be a wonderful package full of strong extras and getting new transfers of films with bad ancient masters is always welcome, particularly when it’s all FiM-encoded. Can’t wait!

[Stefan Andersson]

Excellent news!

This may be of interest -- info about unfilmed scenes of Simon of the Desert:
https://lbunuel.blogspot.com/p/guion-de ... lumna.html

Clarification update: this information is a translation to Spanish of a script published by L´Avant-Scène du Cinéma (three other published versions of the screenplay were also consulted). Unfilmed scenes clearly marked out. This translation runs parallel to a transcription of the Criterion Simon of the Desert.

Perhaps the unfilmed scenes will be discussed in the extras.

That Bunuel blog has much interesting information.

[denti alligator]

I’m sold on the extras alone. Where’s the best place to preorder for the US?

[domino harvey]

Likely OrbitDVD once it goes live

[MichaelB]

I'm assuming the person in the other place who's complaining about the artwork hasn't seen Viridiana.

And what's great about it is that it's a direct quote from one of the films that also sums up the tone governing all three (and Buñuel's career in general).

[denti alligator]

Is the pink lettering a nod to the original Criterion art?

[domino harvey]

Is the pink lettering a nod to the original Criterion art?

Ha! Justice for that unfairly maligned cover at last

[andyli]

Is the pink lettering a nod to the original Criterion art?

I was thinking about the same. Sort of a physical media in-joke.

This is a lovely set that I hope won’t be selling too well (I mean, 6k copies sounds a lot, but you never know…) too soon. The BBC documentary is an indication that Radiance goes all out on this one. And the commentaries. Can’t wait to see what they come up with the Oshima set next year.

[Aspect]

Will this be all region?

[TechnicolorAcid]

Will this be all region?

Per the site yes.

[Aspect]

Awesome - thanks.

[Finch]

I'm thrilled too. I thought we'd only get Exterminating Angel which in and of itself I'd have been very happy with (and I'm grateful that Radiance went the extra mile of restoring it!) but fresh copies of Viridiana and Simon of the Desert on top of that makes this a contender for end of year top ten non-Criterion release lists. Criterion might release those in 4K next year (maybe licensing Radiance's in-house resto of Angel) but even so, I'm having a hard time picturing a future CC set making the UK release redundant.

[Peacock]

I'm thrilled too. I thought we'd only get Exterminating Angel which in and of itself I'd have been very happy with (and I'm grateful that Radiance went the extra mile of restoring it!) but fresh copies of Viridiana and Simon of the Desert on top of that makes this a contender for end of year top ten non-Criterion release lists. Criterion might release those in 4K next year (maybe licensing Radiance's in-house resto of Angel) but even so, I'm having a hard time picturing a future CC set making the UK release redundant.

Particularly now that CC have cut back on special features so much. This would be a hard set to top for these particular films (unless Facets decide to give them a go).

[senseabove]

I guess the inclusion of this:

The Other Trinity: Alatriste, Buñuel and Pinal - A visual essay on Buñuel in Mexico by Abraham Castillo Flores

would hint that we needn't hold our breath for a future Buñuel in Mexico box...

[TechnicolorAcid]

but given Pinal's contributions to this and other of Bunuel's Mexican/Spanish films

Another confirmation of Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert.

Viridiana and these 2 films should so be a boxset (digipak). but it wont happen. :/

Guess they got their wish.

[Tuppence]

I guess the inclusion of this:

The Other Trinity: Alatriste, Buñuel and Pinal - A visual essay on Buñuel in Mexico by Abraham Castillo Flores

would hint that we needn't hold our breath for a future Buñuel in Mexico box...

Why? What about Radiance's curation so far makes you think they would only like to release these three films from Bunuel's Mexican output?

[senseabove]

Only that, if they had suspicions they might have the opportunity to release a Buñuel in Mexico box in the future, then they'd save the doc on Buñuel in Mexico for that. But on second glance, it might just be a slightly misleading title, since I guess it'll focus specifically on Simon, which is not usually what people mean when they talk about "Buñuel in Mexico." So very hopefully I'm wrong!

[MichaelB]

For those who aren't aware, Gustavo Alatriste and Silvia Pinal only worked on the three films in this specific box set. Abraham Castillo Flores may well discuss earlier Mexican titles in passing - I do, too, in my commentary - but the title makes his overall focus pretty clear.

(Aside from my commentary and the 1983 Arena doc - the latter on its original broadcast more than four decades ago - I haven't seen any of the other extras yet, so this is as much educated guesswork as anyone else's.)

[senseabove]

And I had somehow never realized EA was shot/produced in Mexico! I'd thought both it and Viridiana were made back in Spain, which is why the "in Mexico" part confused me, if only one (short!) film was made actually "in Mexico", but that's not the case. So ignore me entirely!

[DRW.mov]

Is the pink lettering a nod to the original Criterion art?

I was thinking about the same. Sort of a physical media in-joke.

This is a lovely set that I hope won’t be selling too well (I mean, 6k copies sounds a lot, but you never know…) too soon. The BBC documentary is an indication that Radiance goes all out on this one. And the commentaries. Can’t wait to see what they come up with the Oshima set next year.

The designer as answered the burning questions: https://x.com/hydesister/status/1833907 ... 43798?s=46