I observed things that moved me and I wanted to transpose those things on to the screen -- but to do so with love I have for the instinctive and the irrational that can reveal itself in anything and everything. I've always been drawn toward the strange and the unknown.
Everyone is free to find in my films anything he likes or whatever is useful to him.
In the name of Hippocrates, doctors have invented the most exquisite form of torture ever known to man: survival.
-Luis Buñuel
The Exterminating Angel
A dinner group becomes inexplicably stuck
in a room under mysterious circumstances unable to leave. As they become annoyed by this phenomenon they try to figure out how to leave degrading from pettiness to savagery. The high society group stays here trying to leave until irrational logic saves them from the most unexpected of places.
Buñuel like no other director understands class hypocrisy, religion and surrealistic absurdity. The Exterminating Angel is obsessed with class hypocrisy especially in the elites plight for survival. Survival is stressed here in both physical and social. After being invited to the opera and back home the dinner guests cannot leave due to some inexplicable spell. They ignore this minor inconvenience through fake manners in turn eased by nasty gossip. Buñuel is mocking high society similar to the way Robert Altman did in Gosford Park.
The film starts off on Providence Street, which is ironic given the circumstances that will happen to the elite group in the film. Buñuel here laughs at religion in excellent, parodied foreshadowing of things to come.
The Exterminating Angel takes great lengths to mock superstitious beliefs as well as praise superstitious beliefs as the answers to the problems it brings. The rich cling to their culture and emptiness comforted by its routine. Once they a fed up by this and their life of privilege they emotionally break down and flee to religion to bring meaning back into their lives as represented by the sheep at the end of the film. Strangely it condemns the rational and logical as seen by the characters ignoring the calm and methodical doctor throughout the film. Their misery doesn’t go only transfers. They trade one hell for another.
The symbolic sheep that are tied down representing religion yearn to be free but at the end of the film when they are finally free what do they do? They run right back into church. The symbolism is over the top at times but effective nonetheless. By today’s standards this wouldn’t be that controversial but for a Spanish director filming in Mexico in the early 60s this is huge.
The film likes to point and laugh at the ridiculousness of group thinking from the elite socialites vs. the rationality from the doctor. The high society group in the film degrades slowly into savages rationalizing their behaviors in order to survive. The plight of human survival is a struggle between the reptilian and mammalian brain as represented by the dinner guests vs. the doctor. The dinner guests fight for a drop of water after destroying the walls to get to the water pipes while the doctor insists that they form a line to drink. Their irrational behavior stems from fear for survival both socially and physically. They grow paranoid, distrustful, and obsessive – functions of the reptilian brain. On the other hand their other side which is more compassionate praises Blanca for her piano performance when they are tired and don’t want to listen anymore. The doctor on the other hand is more compassionate and patient. Even as they grow tired of him he tries to offer compassion when they threaten to kill him.
The dinner group also suffers from “group think” and narcissism. They are stuck in the room for two days fearing the world outside has died as the only possible explanation for why they haven’t been saved. This is Buñuel humorous jab at the higher class and its obsession with itself. The only time they refer to other people is when they fear others have forgotten about tem leaving them to be doomed.
A Norse mythical character that appears in the film is the character, Valkyrie. This is interesting considering a Valkyrie decides who dies in battle when she herself is one of the most helpless people in the film. This is Buñuel’s jab at religion and it’s failure for protection to lost souls. Buñuel once famously said, “God and Country` are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed." There is a certain paradox here considering how many religious paintings are inside the house. Also one of the first shots of the film has a dolly shot of the outside of the house, which looks remarkably similar to a Catholic church’s architecture. Admiring a thing’s beauty is not synonymous with admiring its function.
The bear in the film was not explained by Buñuel at all. His son was instructed to be vague when interviewers questioned him. Buñuel like David Lynch leaves it up to your interpretation. One way of seeing the bear is as fear from religion and the sheep inside that are tied to the table unable to move.
Throughout the film many of the guests question why they are never able to leave to room. Many say they will leave immediately growing tired, frustrated and fearful. They are like the customs and beliefs they have adopted, unchanging, paranoid and fear inducing. Only when the guests though irrational logic decide to kill Nobile (nobility) do they make any progress. Ethics arrests progress.
As they break the curse and return to the outside the first place they return is to church to atone for their sins. Funnily though they cannot escape church now and the curse is again placed on them. Clinging to one thing entirely destroys oneself as oppose to having a balance.
The film is intelligent and open to endless possibilities for interpretations. Surrealistic aspects are prevalent throughout the film including a humorous severed hand scene that reminds one of the film The Addam’s Family. Multiple viewings are necessary but like true art it is up to one’s own interpretation to make it accessible.
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