The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Plot

In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined.

Why watch

Luis Buñuel's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" is a masterclass in surrealist satire, where the absurdity of upper-class pretensions is laid bare through a series of thwarted dinner parties. This film invites viewers to laugh at the farcical nature of social rituals while simultaneously confronting the darker undercurrents of privilege and existential dread.

Talking points

• the nature of reality and illusion
• the absurdity of social conventions
• class disparity and privilege
• the role of humor in critique

Cultural context

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