Film: The Phantom Of Liberty
Running time: 99 mins
Director: Luis Buñuel
Starring: Adriana Asti, Julien Bertheau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Adolfo Celi, Paul Frankeur
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Country: Italy/France
Region 1 release.
In this, the penultimate film of Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel, character encounters are dictated by chance, absurdist situations occur everywhere and social norms are under scrutiny. Cited by many to be Bunuel’s finest work, it is certainly his angriest, as he gets several thoughts off his chest in this satirical and surreal effort.
The film begins in Toledo, Spain during the Napoleonic wars, as a group of captured locals protest against their attackers with the cry, “Down with liberty.” However, the plot soon jumps to present day France, where a number of sketch length scenes are shown displaying the lives of several disparate characters. Each scene is connected with a tenuous coincidence, as established characters hand over to new characters (before they repeat the same pattern).
Amongst this chaos, monks play poker, policemen act like naughty schoolchildren in lectures, doctors avoid their patient’s problems with pleasantries, and the French army takes one of its tanks out fox hunting.
The film eventually rounds off with a similar scenario to the beginning, as a group of protesters get into a spectacular (and unseen) battle with the police in a zoo, whilst screaming, “Down with liberty!”
Many of the scenes in Phantom are based on moments from Bunuel’s life. For instance, a line during one scene that sees a group of monks playing poker in a hotel with a fellow guest, claims: "If everyone prayed everyday to Saint Joseph, peace and quiet would prevail,” and was lifted directly from a conversation Bunuel had had when visiting a monastery. Another self reflexive moment comes when the briefly seen character Mr Legendre visits his doctor to get results of a cancer test but is constantly hampered by the doctor’s refusal to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with him. Instead, the ineffectual doctor avoids the matter to the point that Legendre slaps him round the face in frustration. This too was based on Bunuel’s own experience - of being diagnosed with cancer.
As a result of this frustration with his own life, there is also the feeling that Bunuel was becoming quite the cynic in his later years, and this shows in the movie. Many scenes deal with the absurdity of the mundane, as well as the ineffectual nature of the bourgeoisie. A good example of this is observed when Mr Legendre’s daughter is reported ‘missing’ by her teacher, despite being in plain sight in the classroom, and openly announcing that she is present. Despite this, the police waste time and energy on finding her.
There is a sense that even the simplest of social norms are under the microscope during the film. A notable moment is seen during a dinner party, where the guests all sit on toilets around a table, discussing defecation, before some excuse themselves to eat a meal in a private cubical. It’s often like he’s observing modern civilisation with an anthropologist-style gaze, noting with amusement what would happen if common conventions were turned on their head.
The structure of this film is probably the biggest challenge in viewing as there is no real plot to speak of. The film operates more like a collection of comedy sketches linked by vague events. Resultantly any continuity is relatively hard to locate, as the plot continually shifts when characters meet or are united by random chance - only to hand over to a new plot and disappear never to be seen again. This can make the film quite frustrating to watch, because by the time any involvement with a character has been invested, they are gone, and a new plot thread has begun.
Bunuel is also not afraid of delving into murkier territory. During the run time, he tackles issues such as incest, police brutality, necrophilia and paedophilia. In the case of the paedophilia, this involves a stranger approaching a child and giving her a picture book, only for her parents to find that they contain innocuous but ‘obscene’ images of famous French architecture. Some of these more risqué moments, make for uncomfortable or ambivalent viewing, as they are presented in such a light-hearted and absurdist manner.
For many, The Phantom Of Liberty will be unwatchable as there is no linier plot - the viewer is forced to jump between fleeting protagonists. Whilst Bunuel raises some interesting questions about society and religion, it is not an easy film to view. However, there are some humorous moments, and it is endearingly eccentric, which may save it in some people’s eyes. DJ
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