Absurdity is relative; it requires a reality (or something less absurd) to be contrasted with.
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
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Reviews Counted:18
Fresh:17
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: One of Luis Buñuel's finest films, filled with humor, political barbs and wildly strange events. Nobile, an upper-class gentleman, has invited a group of friends to his home for a post-opera... One of Luis Buñuel's finest films, filled with humor, political barbs and wildly strange events. Nobile, an upper-class gentleman, has invited a group of friends to his home for a post-opera dinner. But even before the guests arrive, something bizarre happens: all the servants are seized by an irresistible compulsion to walk out. And worse is yet to come: at the hour when everyone should depart, for some inexplicable reason no one can leave Nobile's drawing room. Although no physical barriers prevent them from exiting, they all halt at the door and turn back. As the food and water run out, and tensions rise, the group begins to argue amongst themselves... and soon they've abandoned any pretense of "good breeding" and "polite behavior". It's every man for himself and only the strongest survive. [More]
Starring: Silvia Pinal, Enrique Rimbal, Jacqueline Andere, Jose Baviera
Starring: Silvia Pinal, Enrique Rimbal, Jacqueline Andere, Jose Baviera, Augusto Benedico, Luis Beristein
Director: Luis Buñuel
Director: Luis Buñuel
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Release:
Feb 10, 2009
Reviews for The Exterminating Angel
One of the master director's most concentrated and unambiguous works.
In typical fashion, Buñuel offers no explanation, but the way your head spins around this simple premise makes each scene more fun than the last.
Though less popular than other works, this is one of Bunuel's most philosophically profound and eccentric films, bearing undeniably disturbing effects on the viewers.
A blistering attack on social classes and conventions, The Exterminating Angel may be the best in a long line of Buñuel masterpieces.
A deliciously sardonic black comedy in the best surrealistic tradition of auteur Luis Buñuel.
If not necessarily Buñuel’s greatest film, this unclassifiable creation must count as one of the most twisted stunts ever mounted for the screen.
One of Luis Bunuel's masterworks, The Exterminating Angel is a brilliant surrealist allegory about a group of socialites who, inexplicably find themselves unable to leave their host's house, and gradually degenerate into violence and depravity.
My feeling is that his canvas is too narrow and his social comment too plain to keep our interest fixed upon his people and their barren stewing for an hour and a half.
I watched it and I don't know what it means either, but it's a hell of a movie.
A macabre comedy, a mordant view of human nature that suggests we harbor savage instincts and unspeakable secrets.
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
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| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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