Luis Buñuel

Luis Buñuel

Luis Buñuel, 1968
Born Luis Buñuel Portolés
22 February 1900
Calanda, Teruel, Aragón, Spain
Died 29 July 1983 (aged 83)
Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation Filmmaker
Years active 1929–1977
Spouse Jeanne Buñuel (1925 – his death)

Luis Buñuel Portolés (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlwiz βuˈɲwel]; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish filmmaker who also acquired Mexican citizenship and worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the United States. He is considered one of the finest directors in the history of cinema.[1]

Contents

Early years

Buñuel was born in Calanda, a small town in the province of Teruel, in Aragon, Spain, to Leonardo Buñuel and María Portolés. He would later describe his birthplace by saying that in Calanda, "the Middle Ages lasted until World War I."[2] The oldest of seven children, Luis had two brothers, Alfonso and Leonardo, and four sisters, Alicia, Concepción, Margarita and María.

When Buñuel was just four months old, the family moved to Zaragoza, where they were one of the wealthiest families in town. In Zaragoza, Buñuel received a strict Jesuit education at the Colegio del Salvador, from which he was later expelled. Buñuel finished the last two years of his high school education at the local public school.

In 1917, he went to university in Madrid. While studying at the University of Madrid (current-day Universidad Complutense de Madrid), he became a very close friend of painter Salvador Dalí and poet Federico García Lorca, among other important Spanish artists living in the Residencia de Estudiantes. Buñuel first studied agronomy then industrial engineering and finally switched to philosophy. The 2009 biopic Little Ashes gives an account of the relationship of Dalí, Lorca and Buñuel at this time.

Career

First French period

In 1925, Buñuel moved to Paris, where he began work as a secretary in an organization called the International Society of Intellectual Cooperation. He later found work in France as a director's assistant to Jean Epstein on Mauprat (1926), Mario Nalpas on La Sirène des Tropiques (1927) starring Josephine Baker, and Epstein on La chute de la maison Usher (1928).

It was during this time that he met his future wife, Jeanne Rucar, whom he married in 1934. The two remained married throughout his life and eventually had two sons, Rafael and Juan-Luis. Diego Buñuel, filmmaker and host of the National Geographic Channel's Don't Tell My Mother series, is his grandson.

Next, Buñuel co-wrote and directed a 16-minute short film, Un chien andalou (1929), with Dalí. This film – which features a series of startling and sometimes horrifying images of Freudian nature – was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning French Surrealist movement of the time, and continues to be shown regularly in film societies to this day.

He followed Un chien andalou with L'Âge d'Or (1930), partly based on the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom. The film was begun as a second collaboration with Dalí but became Buñuel's solo project after a falling-out they had before filming began. During this film, he worked around his technical ignorance by filming mostly in sequence and using nearly every foot of film that he shot. L'Âge d'Or was read to be an attack on Catholicism, and thus, precipitated an even larger scandal than Un chien andalou. The right-wing press criticized the film and the police placed a ban on it that lasted 50 years.

Spain

Following L'Âge d'Or, Buñuel returned to Spain and directed Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan (1933), a documentary on peasant life. This was a convulsive period which led, in 1936, to the Spanish Civil War. The times were changing quickly and Buñuel could see that someone with his political and artistic sensibilities would have no place in a fascist Spain. He co-wrote and produced a documentary short about the changing political climes in Spain, called España 1936.

The advent of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 caused the expatriation of many artists and intellectuals from the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, whose military revolt and rise to power had had the strong backing of the Spanish Catholic hierarchy. Had Buñuel stayed in Spain, his fate might have been the same as that of his friend, poet Federico García Lorca, who was assassinated at the outset of Franco's military revolt.

United States

In exile after the Spanish Civil War, Buñuel settled in Hollywood to capitalize on the short-lived fad of producing foreign-language versions of American films for sales abroad. After Buñuel worked on a few Spanish-language remakes, the industry eventually turned to the dubbing of dialogue. He then left Hollywood for New York, getting a job at the Museum of Modern Art from Iris Barry, where he put together compilation films, including a juxtaposition of two Nazi propaganda films: Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1934) and Hans Bertram's Feuertaufe.

Dali, in his autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942), suggested that he had split with Buñuel because the latter was a Communist and an atheist. Buñuel was fired (or resigned) from MOMA, supposedly after Cardinal Spellman of New York went to see Iris Barry, head of the film department at MOMA. Buñuel then went back to Hollywood, where he worked in the dubbing department of Warner Brothers from 1942 to 1946.

In his 1982 autobiography Mon Dernier soupir (My Last Sigh, 1983), Buñuel wrote that he submitted a treatment to Warner Bros. about a disembodied hand which was later adapted (without his consent and without paying him royalties) into The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) with Peter Lorre. Buñuel also wrote that, over the years, he rejected Dalí's attempts at reconciliation.

In 1972, Buñuel, along with his screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and producer Serge Silberman, was invited by George Cukor to his house. This gathering was particularly memorable and other invitees included Alfred Hitchcock, Rouben Mamoulian, Robert Mulligan, George Stevens, Billy Wilder, Robert Wise and William Wyler.[3]

Mexican period

Buñuel arrived in Mexico in 1946 and acquired Mexican citizenship in 1949. He relinquished his Spanish passport as it was not possible to have dual citizenship then. The first film he directed there was Gran Casino (1946), produced by Oscar Dancigers. Buñuel found the plot boring and it was not hugely successful.

He later again collaborated with Dancigers in creating El Gran Calavera (1949), a successful film starring Fernando Soler. As Buñuel himself has stated, he learned the techniques of directing and editing while shooting El Gran Calavera. Its success at the box office encouraged Dancigers to accept the production of a more ambitious film for which Buñuel, apart from writing the script, had complete freedom to direct. The result was his critically acclaimed Los Olvidados (1950), which was recently considered by UNESCO as part of the world's cultural heritage. Los Olvidados (and its triumph at Cannes) made Buñuel an instant world celebrity and the most important Spanish-speaking film director in the world.

Buñuel remained in Mexico for the rest of his life, although he spent periods of time filming in France and Spain. In Mexico, he filmed 20 films in all, including:

Viridiana

In 1960, for political propaganda reasons, Franco instructed his minister of culture to invite the country's most famous filmmaker to return to Spain to direct a film of his choice. Buñuel accepted and proceeded to make Viridiana produced by Mexican film tycoon Gustavo Alatriste and starring Mexican actress Silvia Pinal. He left Spain as soon as he finished the film, but left a few official copies. After viewing them, the copies were burned by the dictator's authorities. The minister of culture was reprimanded for having passed the screenplay in the first place.

A copy of Viridiana, however, had been smuggled to France, where it proceeded to win the Palme D'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. The film was banned in Spain, but got international attention and praise (with some exceptions). The Vatican's official newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, published an article calling Viridiana an insult not only to Catholicism, but to Christianity itself.

Second French period

After the golden age of the Mexican film industry ended, Buñuel started to work in France along with Silberman and Carrière. During this "French Period", Buñuel directed some of his best-known works:

Last years

After the release of Cet obscur objet du désir he retired from film making, and wrote (with Carrière) an autobiography, Mon Dernier Soupir (My Last Sigh), published in 1982, which provides an account of Buñuel's life, friends, and family as well as a representation of his eccentric personality. In it, he recounts dreams, encounters with many well known writers, actors, and artists such as Pablo Picasso and Charlie Chaplin, and antics such as dressing up as a nun and walking around town. As one might deduce from these antics, Buñuel was famous for his atheism. In a 1960 interview with Michele Manceaux in L'Express, Buñuel famously declared: "I am still, thank God, an atheist."

Head of Luis Buñuel in Centro Buñuel Calanda.

Buñuel repudiated this statement in a 1977 article in The New Yorker. "I'm not a Christian, but I'm not an atheist, either", he said. "I'm weary of hearing that accidental old aphorism of mine, 'I'm an atheist, thank God.' It's outworn. Dead leaves. In 1951, I made a small film called Mexican Bus Ride, about a village too poor to support a church and a priest. The place was serene, because no one suffered from guilt. It's guilt we must escape from, not God."

Buñuel died in Mexico City in 1983.

Influences

Surrealism

Buñuel's films were famous for their surreal imagery, including scenes in which chickens populate nightmares, women grow beards, and aspiring saints are desired by luscious women. Even in the many movies he made for hire (rather than for his own creative reasons), such as Susana and The Great Madcap, he usually added his trademark of disturbing and surreal images. Running through his own films is a backbone of surrealism; Buñuel's world is one in which an entire dinner party suddenly finds itself inexplicably unable to leave the room and go home, a bad dream hands a man a letter which he brings to the doctor the next day, and where the devil, if unable to tempt a saint with a pretty girl, will fly him to a disco. An example of a more Dada influence can be found in Cet obscur objet du désir, when Mathieu closes his eyes and has his valet spin him around and direct him to a map on the wall.

Buñuel never explained or promoted his work. On one occasion, when his son was interviewed about The Exterminating Angel, Buñuel instructed him to give facetious answers. For example, when asked about the presence of a bear in the socialites' house, Buñuel fils claimed it was because his father liked bears. Similarly, the several repeated scenes in the film were explained as having been put there to increase the running time.

Religion

Many of his films were openly critical of middle class morals and organized religion, mocking the Roman Catholic Church in particular but religion in general, for hypocrisy. Many of his most famous films demonstrate this:

Technique

Buñuel's style of directing was extremely economical. He shot films in a few weeks, never deviating from his script and shooting in order as much as possible to minimize editing time. He told actors as little as possible, and limited his directions mostly to physical movements ("move to the right", "walk down the hall and go through that door", etc.). He often refused to answer actors' questions and was known to simply turn off his hearing aid on the set. Though they found it difficult at the time, many actors who worked with him acknowledged later that his approach made for fresh and excellent performances.

Buñuel preferred scenes which could simply be pieced together end-to-end in the editing room, resulting in long, mobile, wide shots which followed the action of the scene. Examples are especially present in his French films. For example, at the restaurant / ski resort in Belle de jour, Séverin, Pierre, and Henri are conversing at a table. Buñuel cuts away from their conversation to two young women who walk down a few steps and proceed through the restaurant, passing behind Séverin, Pierre, and Henri, at which point the camera stops and the young women walk out of frame. Henri then comments on the women and the conversation at the table progresses from there.

Buñuel disliked non-diegetic music and avoided its use, though traditional drums from Calanda sound in most of his films. The films of his French era were not scored and some (Belle de jour, Diary of a Chambermaid) are without music entirely. Belle de jour does, however, feature (potentially) non-diegetic sound effects.

Tributes

Awards

Luis Buñuel was given the Career Golden Lion in 1982 by the Venice Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Prize - Honorable Mention in 1969 by the Berlin Film Festival. In 1977, he received the National Prize for Arts and Sciences for Fine Arts.

Filmography

Year Original title English title Production country Language Length Awards
1929 Un chien andalou An Andalusian Dog France French 16 min
1930 L'Âge d'Or The Golden Age France French 60 min
1933 Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan Land Without Bread Spain French 30 min
1947 Gran Casino (aka En el viejo Tampico) Magnificent Casino Mexico Spanish 92 min
1949 El Gran Calavera The Great Madcap Mexico Spanish 92 min
1950 Los olvidados The Forgotten (aka The Young and the Damned) Mexico Spanish 85 min Cannes Film Festival – Best Director
1951 Susana The Devil and the Flesh Mexico Spanish 86 min
1951 La hija del engaño The Daughter of Deceit Mexico Spanish 78 min
1952 Subida al cielo Ascent to Heaven (aka Mexican Bus Ride) Mexico Spanish 85 min Cannes Film Festival – Official Selection
1952 Una mujer sin amor A Woman Without Love Mexico Spanish 85 min
1953 El bruto The Brute Mexico Spanish 81 min
1953 Él This Strange Passion (aka Torments) Mexico Spanish 92 min Cannes Film Festival – Official Selection
1954 La ilusión viaja en tranvía Illusion Travels by Streetcar Mexico Spanish 82 min
1954 Abismos de pasión (aka Cumbres Borrascosas) Wuthering Heights Mexico Spanish 91 min
1954 The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Mexico English 90 min
1955 Ensayo de un crimen Rehearsal for a Crime (aka The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz) Mexico Spanish 89 min
1955 El río y la muerte The River and Death Mexico Spanish 91 min
1956 Cela s'appelle l'aurore That is the Dawn Italy/France French 102 min
1956 La mort en ce jardin Death in the Garden (aka Gina) France/Mexico French 104 min
1959 Nazarín Mexico Spanish 94 min Cannes Film Festival – International Prize
1959 La fièvre monte à El Pao Fever Rises in El Pao (aka Republic of Sin) France/Mexico French 109 min
1960 The Young One Mexico/USA English 96 min Cannes Film Festival – Special Mention
1961 Viridiana Mexico/Spain Spanish 90 min Cannes Film Festival – Palme d'Or
1962 El ángel exterminador The Exterminating Angel Mexico Spanish 95 min Cannes Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize
1964 Le journal d'une femme de chambre The Diary of a Chambermaid France/Italy French 98 min
1965 Simón del desierto Simon of the Desert Mexico Spanish 45 min Venice Film Festival – Special Jury Prize
Venice Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize
1967 Belle de jour France/Italy French 101 min Venice Film Festival – Golden Lion
Venice Film Festival – Pasinetti Award
1969 La Voie Lactée The Milky Way France/Italy French 105 min Berlin Film Festival – Interfilm Award
1970 Tristana France/Italy/Spain Spanish 105 min Oscar – Best Foreign Language Film
1972 Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie France/Italy/Spain French 102 min Oscar – Best Foreign Language Film
Oscar – Best Original Screenplay
1974 Le fantôme de la liberté The Phantom of Liberty Italy/France French 104 min
1977 Cet obscur objet du désir That Obscure Object of Desire France/Spain French 105 min Oscar – Best Foreign Language Film
Oscar – Best Adapted Screenplay

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ ""The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time"". 6 July 2002. http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/article/the_25_most_influential_directors_of_all_time_3358/. Retrieved 18 December 2008. 
  2. ↑ Buñuel, Luis. My Last Sigh. Trans. Abigail Israel. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8166-4387-3. page 8.
  3. ↑ American Masters: George Cukor

External links

Films directed by Luis Buñuel
1920s
1930s
L'Age d'Or • Land Without Bread
1940s
Gran Casino • The Great Madcap
1950s
Los Olvidados • Susana • La Hija del Engaño • Mexican Bus Ride • A Woman Without Love • El Bruto • Él • Illusion Travels by Streetcar • Wuthering Heights • Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz • El Río y la Muerte • Cela S'appelle l'Aurore • Death in the Garden • Nazarín • La Fièvre Monte à El Pao
1960s
The Young One • Viridiana • The Exterminating Angel • Diary of a Chambermaid • Simon of the Desert • Belle de Jour • The Milky Way
1970s
Tristana • The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie • The Phantom of Liberty • That Obscure Object of Desire
BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay

Calder Willingham and Buck Henry (1968) · Waldo Salt (1969) · William Goldman (1970) · Harold Pinter (1971) · Paddy Chayefsky / Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich (1972) · Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière (1973) · Robert Towne (1974) · Robert Getchell (1975) · Alan Parker (1976) · Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (1977) · Alvin Sargent (1978) · Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (1979) · Jerzy Kosinski (1980) · Bill Forsyth (1981) · Costa Gavras and Donald E. Stewart (1982)