Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

by Edited by Marsha Kinder

• ISBN13: 9780521568319
• ISBN10: 0521568315
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The first collection of critical essays on Luis Buuuel's 1972 Oscar-winning masterpiece, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, this anthology brings fresh perspectives to the most sophisticated film of this director whose narrative experimentation was always ahead of its time. Combining some of the world's most distinguished scholars on Buuuel and Spanish cinema with new voices in cultural theory, this volume helps us to rethink not only The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, but also Buuuel's entire body of work. Among the topics examined are Buuuel's relationship to surrealism, the transnational (Spanish, French, Mexican, and American) nature of his work, and his dramatic and idiosyncratic rethinking of sex, narrative and gender. Also included are vintage reviews of the film, as well a selected Buuuel bibliography.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
The Nomadic Discourse of Luis Bunuel: A Rambling Overview	1	(30)
Marsha Kinder
SECTION 1: OVERTURES AND OVERTONES
Laughs with Bunuel	31	(3)
Jose Luis Borau
How Marilyn Monroe Profoundly Influenced The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie	34	(7)
John Rechy
SECTION 2: RECONTEXTUALIZING THE DISCREET CHARM
Bunuel, the Realist: Variations of a Dream	41	(19)
Juan Roberto Mora Catlett
A Cultural Background to The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie	60	(22)
Agustin Sanchez Vidal
Julie Jones
The Discreet Charm of the Postmodern: Negotiating the Great Divide with the Ultimate Modernist, Luis Bunuel	82	(19)
Victor Fuentes
SECTION 3: RETHEORIZING BUNUEL
Bunuel in the Cathedral of Culture: Reterritorializing the Film Auteur	101	(10)
Marvin D'Lugo
Unraveling Entanglements of Sex, Narrative, Sound, and Gender: The Discreet Charm of Belle de jour	111	(30)
Harmony H. Wu
Bunuel's Net Work: The Detour Trilogy	141	(57)
James Tobias
APPENDIXES
Vintage Reviews	179	(17)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie: A Review Stephen Kovacs (Film Quarterly, Winter 1972--1973)	179	(6)
Interruption as Style: Bunuel's Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie Jonathan Rosenbaum (Sight and Sound, Winter 1972--1973)	185	(6)
Why Is the Co-eatus Always Interruptus? John Simon (New York Times, February 25, 1973)	191	(5)
Credits for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie	196	(2)
Selective Bibliography	198	(19)
Yungshun Tang
Notes on Contributors	217	(4)
Index	221