The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

The 20th century is rife with artistic movements of all kinds, but undoubtedly one of the most popular is Surrealism. It has seeped into a plethora of mediums: Fine art, movies, even video games. As such, it's part of our culture, of our meta-mind, whether you like it or not. It deals with our dreams, desires and the unconscious, which often leads to a severe break with the classic narrative style. This is why surrealist films are so "artsy".  One of the greatest and well known directors of this style was Luis Buñel. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie showcases many of his talents as an artist and as a director. Unfortunately, it left me feeling empty.

Let's start off with what works here: Form. Buñel's film is set up as a loose narrative of the lives of six aristocratic men and woman. When I use the term loose, I really mean it. The movie is best seen as a collection of vignettes tied together by the regular cast or one-shot characters. As the movie goes along it all becomes more and more...ungrounded. You feel less sure of anything. To the point that maybe you're not sure of anything being real at all. And yes... that's the good part, and no... I'm not being sardonic. Surrealism is meant to upend your sense of contentment, and Discreet Charm does that in spades, by constantly having you question what's a dream and what isn't. By showing ridiculous situations as regular or unsurprising happenstance.

What doesn't work well is most everything else. The characters aren't likable, and that's okay, but they're barely unlikeable either. They're not really there. Absolutely shallow. That may be the point, true... but even the characters that aren't part of the elite can't be classified as human. They're just symbols: guilt, fear and pleading sadness. But none of it is explored, not even on an unconscious level. The problem I see with this film is that it doesn't go far enough. Buñel shows us the stuff hidden behind our heads and those inside of our society's (or at least that of the 1970s) but gives no emotional depth to it. These small stories leave nothing in me. He touched many of these same themes in his seminal Un Chien Andalou by completely getting rid of narrative and truly hitting the emotional edge of the human conscious. I was left with images from that movie for a long time and can still recall many of them. With Discreet Charm I'm already starting to forget it.

This is not to say that I can't see why this film is so approved by critics. It tries to balance the absurd witha semi-narrative in what many would say is a success. It's also often funny, like when one of the characters takes that last bit of ham. There's quite a bit of symbolism involved in that. In the end though, it doesn't amount to much. If you want to watch great work inspired by this movie, you'll have to watch David Lynch's films. He saw the merits of this film and ran with them to their true artistic ends. I have a lot to be thankful from this film, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

- piecar