The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-middle-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, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Bulle Ogier—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.
Blu-ray Special Edition Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- 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 by José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo
- Once Upon a Time: “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” a 2011 television program about the making of the film
- Episode of the French television program Pour le cinéma from 1972 that features behind-the-scenes footage of Buñuel on set, along with interviews with the director and with actors Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Bulle Ogier, Fernando Rey, and Delphine Seyrig
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
Available In
Collector's Set
Blu-ray Special Edition Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- 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 by José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo
- Once Upon a Time: “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” a 2011 television program about the making of the film
- Episode of the French television program Pour le cinéma from 1972 that features behind-the-scenes footage of Buñuel on set, along with interviews with the director and with actors Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Bulle Ogier, Fernando Rey, and Delphine Seyrig
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
Cast
- Fernando Rey
- Rafael Acosta, the ambassador
- Paul Frankeur
- François Thévenot
- Delphine Seyrig
- Simone Thévenot
- Bulle Ogier
- Florence, her sister
- Stéphane Audran
- Alice Sénéchal
- Jean-Pierre Cassel
- Henri Sénéchal
- Julien Bertheau
- Monsignor Dufour
- Milena Vukotic
- Inès, the maid
- Maria Gabriella Maione
- Guerrilla
- Claude Piéplu
- Colonel
- Muni
- Peasant woman
- Pierre Maguelon
- Bloody sergeant
- François Maistre
- Police inspector
- Michel Piccoli
- Minister
Credits
- Director
- Luis Buñuel
- Screenplay
- Luis Buñuel
- Screenplay
- Jean-Claude Carrière
- Editor
- Hélène Plemiannikov
- Production design
- Pierre Guffroy
- Director of photography
- Edmond Richard
- Production manager
- Ully Pickard
- Producer
- Serge Silberman
- Sound
- Guy Villette
- Sound effects
- Luis Buñuel
- Makeup
- Odette Berroyer
- Makeup
- Fernande Hugi
- Costumes
- Jacqueline Guyot
Trailer for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
