Societal etiquette devolves into depravity in Luis Buñuel's existential comedy, effectively playing the absurdity of civilization for mordant laughs. Read critic reviews
The Exterminating Angel
1962, Comedy/Drama, 1h 32m
29 Reviews 5,000+ RatingsWhat to know
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Movie Info
Edmundo Nobile (Enrique Rambal) invites friends over for an opulent dinner party. While the guests enjoy their food, the servants disappear one by one. Afterward, the visitors retire to the salon for an evening of music and conversation -- but in the morning, they are mysteriously incapable of leaving the room. As days go by and they run out of food and water, panic and madness set in. The army and the police arrive, but fail in their attempts to enter the house as conditions inside deteriorate.
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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
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Original Language: Spanish
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Director: Luis Buñuel
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Producer: Gustavo Alatriste
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Writer: Luis Alcoriza, Luis Buñuel
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Reel Media International [us], Facets, Hen's Tooth Video Inc. [us]
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Sound Mix: Mono
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Aspect Ratio: 35mm
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Critic Reviews for The Exterminating Angel
Audience Reviews for The Exterminating Angel
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Buñuel clearly refuses to be subtle in this sharp allegorical satire (and because of that I only wish he had gone even further and embraced insanity and chaos all the way), using an absurd and quite ingenious idea to give a well-deserved slap on bourgeois values and hypocrisy.
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I've been pretty conflicted on what to rate The Exterminating Angel, on one side I felt compelled to give it a "positive" rating and bump it up half a star, but then I look at other films I have given this rating and almost all of them are better. The issue I had with this film is it kind of goes in streaks, of scenes I love and scenes I find dispensable. When it began, it felt somewhat choppy- I later understood the purpose of this- but regardless that is the affect it gave, making it hard to get into. Once the story began about the group of bourgeoisie members trapped in tan upscale room, it had many funny lines and ironic scenes. But as the film went along I felt that I was trapped in the same prison the characters were in, and just like everyone in the room wanted to get away from these idiots. By the time the hallucinations began I started enjoying the comedic work again, but there was a long point in the film where I couldn't wait for it to end. While I found the comedy successful the surrealism was clear but not effective. I love surrealistic pieces like Eraserhead or Un Chien Andalou- which Bunuel himself contributed too. But all the ones I love are eerie, dark, and symbolic. The surrealism in The Exterminating Angel, silly and weird but not eerie, dark, or symbolic. Bunuel has two obsession in his films, Christianity and the bourgeoisie. While there are funny moments regarding both categories, I can't distinguish his statement on either. Was the point that the bourgeoisie were becoming the working class, they once couldn't understand? Are they now the ones that are trapped, like their inferiors were once? That's the most I understood, but even their I can't complete the puzzle.
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I love that Buñuel takes these characters seriously while placing them in the most absurd of scenarios. Like "Viridiana" this kind of consideration makes the satire more potent. I bet this film still makes members of the upper class angry.
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Very unusual but charmingly so. Oddly humourous and surprisingly captivating. Honestly had not heard of it until its mention in Midnight in Paris - very glad I did.
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