Luis Buñuel
The Complete Works Part 2

March 7 to April 6, 2008

The second part of the Retrospective on the most significant Spanish-language director in film history is dedicated to Luis Buñuels later works, from the last films he shot in his adopted homeland Mexico (crowned by the cool social satire The Exterminating Angel) to his modern classics which were among the most celebrated works in 1960s and 70s European art cinema – films such as Belle de jour (1967), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). The "phantom of liberty" (another of his later film titles) stayed with him until the end of his life, as did his predilection for black humour, amour fou and the rebellious forces of Surrealism.
 
Buñuel's return to Spain for the sarcastic passion play Viridiana (1961) was a decisive turning point in his carer. The story of the novice whose kindness and compassion earn her nothing but humiliation was banned by the Franco regime, but won the Golden Palm in Cannes. From this point on, he worked in complete artistic autonomy, with the additional ironic twist, so typical for him, that he now produced his deft, mocking attacks on the bourgeoisie precisely for them. Buñuel exposed the network of perversion and corruption inherent in the rules of politics, religion, sex and power, revelling in an idiom of well-mannered anarchy. His star actors' images were not spared in the process. When he hired Catherine Deneuve again for Tristana (1970), after her iconic role as a frigid, masochistic bourgeois woman in Belle de jour, he went on record with this quote about her: "Deneuve isn't necessarily my type. But with just one leg and when she's made up, I find her very attractive."
 
The show is a joint project with the Berlin Film Festival and the Deutsche Kinemathek – Filmmuseum Berlin. To start off the second part of the Retrospective, the Film Museum will show Jean Epstein's masterpiece based on Edgar Allan Poe, La Chute de la maison Usher (1928), in which Buñuel earned his first spurs as assistant director. This evening will also see the presentation of the Film Museum's new book: Jean Epstein. Bonjour Cinéma and other writings on film (edited by Nicole Brenez and Ralph Eue). This is the first German translation of Epstein's most important essays – the literary reflections of a great theorist and philosopher of film.