Day 99: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

A satire through and through, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” is an odd sort of tale by Spanish director Luis Bunuel, which explores the lives of six rich capitalist friends and their interactions with one another and the rest of society. Though charming, engaging, and, at many times, quite humorous, the film thrives with its almost non-liner story telling and absurdist plotting that takes us in and out of dream sequences with very little clarity and gives us a surreal experience that never truly lets us grow bored or restless.

In the film, Frankeur and Seyrig Thévenot, Rafael Acosta (Fernando Rey) and the Thévenot’s sister Florence (Bulle Ogier), go to the house of their friends Alice and Henri Sénéchal for an evening dinner party, but have their plans abruptly changed when there is no dinner to be had. It seems a misunderstanding about the date of the party has caused the group to arrive a day early and so, never to be caught without a plan B, they head over to a nearby inn to eat. But, though the inn is open and eager to serve them, this clan of capitalists decide the choices on the menu alone are not good enough and, on top of the fact that the inn is also housing a wake for their recently deceased owner in the next room, the group once again leaves without eating.

As the film progresses, the reality and linear nature of the story grows less and less as this rich group of the bourgeoisie deal with issues spanning from Rafael, who is an ambassador for the fictional country of Miranda, fighting off terrorists to the men of the group dealing in cocaine and the woman finding a tea room that has no tea to speak of. But the innermost desires and fears of these rich elite finally come into focus when their dreams reveal what they truly think behind their masks of class and how “the easy life” isn’t always as easy as it seems.

With “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” director Luis Bunuel really plays with his audience, mixing the normal with the absurd and adding dreams to give it all a surreal tone that is easy to watch but hard to digest and understand. Though the story itself is disjointed and unrealistic, Bunuel succeeds in presenting the upper class as living unaffected, disinterested, and unaware of what goes on around them or how their actions impact others. They are more concerned with tradition, etiquette, and rules, but would hardly waste the energy necessary to get angry over other people’s ignorance to their way of life. Instead they give pity to a world that’s just not ready to be like them.

But, while they spend their days with their heads in the clouds, Bunuel uses their dreams and the very fact that, though they try several times to have dinner together, no one ever gets to eat to make a point about how the rich, even with all they have, can never be fulfilled. In many way, what they are is a show and Bunuel once again recognizes this with a dream in which all sit down for dinner but have a curtain open behind them to reveal an audience, watching them like a play. Though many of the group run offstage, Henri is paralyzed in his spot and mutters to himself, “I’ve forgotten my lines.” A capitalist’s worst nightmare.

“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” is a weird and wonderful satire about the upperclass that brings a new absurd light to their livelihood. Now, in a day and age where oil companies run countries and everyone tries to make a buck, this film may be more important now than ever before.

To learn more about “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” check out Criterion’s page here.

If you would like updated on all things Nathan and “The Criterion Summer,” check out our Facebook page here.