Phantom Of Liberty
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''The Phantom of Liberty'' () is a 1974
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
film co-written and directed by
Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
and produced by
Serge Silberman Serge Silberman (1 May 1917 – 22 July 2003) was a French film producer known for his collaborations with several major European and Japanese filmmakers, including Luis Buñuel, Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Pierre Melville, René Clément, Jacques Becker, ...
. It stars an ensemble cast consisting of
Adriana Asti Adriana Asti (born 30 April 1931) is an Italian stage, film, and voice actress. Biography Adriana Asti appeared very young in Dino Risi's short film Buio in sala, shot in 1948. She made her theatrical debut in 1951 acting in Plautus' Miles Glo ...
,
Julien Bertheau Julien Bertheau (19 June 1910 – 28 October 1995) was a French actor. Biography Born in Algiers, Algeria, before making his debut at the Comédie-Française on 18 December 1936, he worked as manager of the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin, th ...
,
Jean-Claude Brialy Jean-Claude Brialy (30 March 1933 – 30 May 2007) was a French actor and film director. Early life Brialy was born in Aumale (now Sour El-Ghozlane), French Algeria, where his father was stationed with the French Army. Brialy moved to mainland ...
,
Adolfo Celi Adolfo Celi (; 27 July 1922 â€“ 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director. Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, specialising in international villains. Although a prominent actor in Italian ...
,
Paul Frankeur Paul Frankeur (29 June 1905 – 27 October 1974) was a French actor who had a successful Hollywood career and appeared in films by Jacques Tati'','' such as ''Jour de fête'' and Luis Buñuel, including ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' ...
,
Michael Lonsdale Michael Edward Lonsdale Crouch (24 May 1931 â€“ 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes as Michel Lonsdale, was a French-British actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is often ...
,
Pierre Maguelon Pierre Maguelon (3 September 1933 – 10 July 2010) was a French actor. Selected filmography * ''Tire-au-flanc 62'' (1960) * '' The President'' (1961) – Un parlementaire (uncredited) * ''Cartouche'' (1962) – Un complice de Cartouche (uncred ...
,
François Maistre François Maistre (14 May 1925 – 16 May 2016) was a French film, television and theatre actor. Born in Demigny, Saône-et-Loire, France, he appeared in nearly 100 films between 1960 and 2003. His father was singer and actor A.-M. Julien. Se ...
,
Hélène Perdrière Hélène Perdrière (born 17 April 1912 in Asnieres-sur-Seine, died 27 August 1992 in Boulogne-Billancourt) was a French stage and film actress. After earning a first prize for comedy at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in 1928, she bec ...
,
Michel Piccoli Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 – 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...
,
Claude Piéplu Claude Léon Auguste Piéplu (9 May 1923, Paris – 24 May 2006, Paris) was a French theatre, film and television actor. He was known for his hoarse and frayed voice.Jean Rochefort Jean Raoul Robert Rochefort (; 29 April 1930 – 9 October 2017) was a French actor. He received many accolades during his career, including an Honorary César in 1999. Life and career Rochefort was born on 29 April 1930 in Paris, France, to ...
, Bernard Verley,
Milena Vukotic Milena Vukotic (, ; born 23 April 1935) is an Italian actress of film, stage and television and former ballerina. Biography Vukotic was born in Rome, to a Montenegrin comedy playwright father and an Italian pianist/composer mother. As a ch ...
and
Monica Vitti Maria Luisa Ceciarelli (3 November 1931 – 2 February 2022), known professionally as Monica Vitti, was an Italian actress who starred in several award-winning films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni during the 1960s. She appeared with Marcel ...
. The film features a nonlinear plot structure that consists of various otherwise unrelated episodes linked only by the movement of certain characters from one situation to another and exhibits Buñuel's typical ribald satirical humor combined with a series of increasingly outlandish and far-fetched incidents intended to challenge the viewer's pre-conceived notions about the stability of social
mores Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...
and reality. ''The Phantom of Liberty'' was critically acclaimed and is considered to be one of Buñuel's best films.


Plot

In 1808, during the Napoleonic occupation of
Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...
, a firing squad executes a small group of Spanish rebels who cry out "Long live chains!" The French troops are encamped in a Catholic church, where the captain caresses the statue of a noblewoman and is knocked unconscious by the statue of her husband. In revenge, the captain exhumes the noblewoman's corpse to find her face remains intact, intending to commit
necrophilia Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction or acts involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ''International ...
. In a modern-day Parisian park, a suspicious-looking man gives two young girls a set of pictures, while their nannies are reading about the 1808 events. At home, one of the girls shows the pictures to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Foucauld. The parents are appalled yet sexually aroused by the pictures, which turn out to be postcards depicting French landmarks. The parents fire their nanny. That night, Mr. Foucauld cannot sleep due to a series of visitations in his bedroom: a rooster, a postman delivering a letter, and an ostrich. Mr. Foucauld's doctor dismisses these nocturnal apparitions as dreams, even though Foucauld presents the postman's letter as evidence. They are interrupted by the doctor's nurse, who announces she must visit her ailing father. On the drive, the nurse is told by a group of soldiers hunting foxes that the road ahead is blocked. Checking into a local inn, she befriends a group of
Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...
friars who engage her in a game of poker while smoking and drinking. A young man and his elderly aunt check into the inn to consummate an
incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...
uous affair. When the nephew exposes the aunt's naked body, she has the body of a young woman. As the aunt refuses the nephew's sexual advances, he leaves the room. The nephew, the nurse, and the friars are all invited for a drink in the room of a hatter and his female assistant. The assistant dons a
dominatrix A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily l ...
outfit and proceeds to whip the hatter, who is wearing bottomless trousers, in front of the other guests, who are shocked and leave. The nephew returns to his aunt, who has agreed to have sex with him. The following day, the nurse leaves for Argenton, giving a lift to a professor who gives a lecture to a classroom of policemen who behave like unruly schoolchildren. The lecture is constantly interrupted until only two officers are left. To illustrate a point he is making about the relativity of customs and laws, the professor recounts a dinner party he once attended at his friends' house, where the guests sat around the table on flushing toilets. The two policemen go on duty and stop a speeding motorist, Mr. Legendre, who is rushing to see his doctor in Paris. Mr. Legendre is diagnosed with cancer but is offered a cigarette by his doctor, whom he slaps. At home, Mr. and Mrs. Legendre are notified that their daughter has disappeared from school, only to find her in class. Although the parents are able to see and speak to her, no one acknowledges the girl's presence. The parents bring her along to report her "disappearance" to the police, who likewise fail to acknowledge the girl's presence. The policeman assigned to find the "missing" girl has his shoes shined. Sitting next to him is a sniper who goes to the top of Paris's
Tour Montparnasse Tour Maine-Montparnasse (Maine-Montparnasse Tower), also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a office skyscraper in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the List of tallest buildings and structures in t ...
and randomly shoots people in the streets below. He is arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death but ultimately leaves the courtroom and is treated like a celebrity. The Prefect of Police, who returns the "missing" girl, meets a woman in a bar who resembles his deceased sister. He receives a telephone call from his deceased sister, asking him to meet her at the
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...
. Entering his family's crypt, he finds a telephone beside his sister's coffin. He is suddenly arrested for desecration by officers who refuse to believe he is the Prefect of Police. The Prefect is taken to his office, where a different man has taken his place. The two men treat each other cordially as if they are acquainted. The two police chiefs arrive at a zoo and jointly direct police control of an off-screen riot. A voice is heard crying out "Long live chains!"


Cast


Historical and social context

''The Phantom of Liberty'' was Buñuel's penultimate film. At the time of production, he was 74 years old and considering retirement. Buñuel summarizes many of the concerns that permeate his work: The film contains short incidents and scenarios collected from throughout Buñuel's life, arranged in the style of a surreal game where seemingly disconnected ideas are linked by chance encounters. Writer Gary Indiana notes that the film was written by Buñuel and Carrière "telling each other their dreams every morning." The film is infused with his personal experience. It opens in
Toledo, Spain Toledo ( ; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, the capital of the province of Toledo and the ''de jure'' seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla†...
, a city that so impressed the young Buñuel that in 1923, he founded a group called the Order of Toledo. When he was a student in Madrid, he saw a dead woman's hair 'growing' from a tomb in the moonlight. The sight made a strong impression on him and he used it in this film some fifty years later. In the 1940s, when he lived in Los Angeles but had no prospects of film work, he wrote down an idea about a missing girl whose parents fruitlessly search for her while she is beside them; invisible and yet not invisible. When the Carmelite says "If everyone prayed every day to
Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...
, peace and quiet would prevail", this was a quote that had stuck with Buñuel when he was visiting a monastery in the 1960s. One of the most poignant biographical details used in ''The Phantom of Liberty'' is the sequence when the doctor tries to avoid telling his patient that he has cancer of the liver. This was based on Buñuel's experience of being told that he had a cyst on his liver (he died of cancer of the liver in 1983). The title of the film is a homage to
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The t ...
'', specifically a reference to the opening sentence: "A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism" (in French, "spectre" is translated as ''fantôme''). This sentence refers to the way in which the idea of
Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
was being used pejoratively by the authorities in the mid-19th century to attack all political parties opposed to the established order (church, aristocracy and state). ''The Communist Manifesto'' was written to offer a positive vision of the views, aims and tendencies of Communists from across Europe. Buñuel and the
Surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...
were closely linked to the Communists in the 1930s, but by the 1950s he had developed a greater antipathy towards the party. The title of ''The Phantom of Liberty'' is also taken from this line of dialogue from his 1969 film '' The Milky Way'': "I experience in every event that my thoughts and my will are not in my power. And that my liberty is only a phantom." It likely refers to the illusive nature of freedom, to the ways in which our destinies are controlled by chance, or, as Buñuel would have it: This quote not only parallels the structure of the film but also summarizes Buñuel's philosophy of life. After being awarded an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in the previous year (for ''
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' () is a 1972 surrealist satirical black comedy film directed by Luis Buñuel, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière. The narrative concerns a group of French bourgeoisie an ...
'', also with producer Serge Silberman and writer Jean-Claude Carriere), he appears to have regained the creative autonomy of his early films. ''The Phantom of Liberty'' can therefore be seen as a personal film from a director reflecting back on a long creative career.


Themes

Buñuel outlines the film's themes in his autobiography as being: * The search for truth and the need to abandon the truth as soon as you have found it. * The implacable nature of social rituals. * The importance of coincidence. * The importance of personal morality. * The essential mystery of all things.


Home media

In Spain, ''The Phantom of Liberty'' was released via Blu-ray by A Contracorriente Films on 19 September 2017. In January 2021, ''The Phantom of Liberty'' was released as part of the Three-film Collection by
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
with ''
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' () is a 1972 surrealist satirical black comedy film directed by Luis Buñuel, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière. The narrative concerns a group of French bourgeoisie an ...
'' and ''
That Obscure Object of Desire ''That Obscure Object of Desire'' (; ) is a 1977 comedy drama film directed by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1898 novel '' The Woman and the Puppet'' by Pierre Louÿs. It was Buñuel's final directorial effort before his death in July 1983. Set in S ...
'' being the other two.
StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...
released the film on Blu-ray in France on 1 January 2021. A
DigiPack Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...
for ''The Phantom of Liberty'' is still in the works from
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
for the U.S. and Canadian distribution.


Reception

Buñuel's previous production, ''
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' () is a 1972 surrealist satirical black comedy film directed by Luis Buñuel, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière. The narrative concerns a group of French bourgeoisie an ...
'' (1972), had won the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
, and his next and final film, ''
That Obscure Object of Desire ''That Obscure Object of Desire'' (; ) is a 1977 comedy drama film directed by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1898 novel '' The Woman and the Puppet'' by Pierre Louÿs. It was Buñuel's final directorial effort before his death in July 1983. Set in S ...
'' (1977) was a more conventional narrative. Below is a selection of critical comments on the film: The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film by the U.S.
National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...
. Today, ''The Phantom of Liberty'' is one of Buñuel's most acclaimed works. On the website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 26 critics, with an average rating of 8.4/10.


Notes


References


External links

*
''Sight and Sound'' article by Michael Wood

''Senses of Cinema'' article by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

''The Phantom of Liberty: The Serpentine Movements of Chance''
– an essay by Gary Indiana at
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom Of Liberty, The 1974 black comedy films 1970s avant-garde and experimental films 1970s French films 1970s French-language films 1970s Italian films 1970s satirical films Films directed by Luis Buñuel Films produced by Serge Silberman Films set in Paris Films set in Toledo, Spain Films with screenplays by Jean-Claude Carrière French avant-garde and experimental films French black comedy films French nonlinear narrative films French satirical films French-language black comedy films French-language Italian films Hyperlink films Italian avant-garde and experimental films Italian black comedy films Italian nonlinear narrative films Italian satirical films Surreal comedy films