''The Exterminating Angel'' () is a 1962 Mexican

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 ...

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 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 ...

. Starring

Silvia Pinal Silvia Pinal Hidalgo (12September 193128November 2024) was a Mexican actress. She began her career in theatre before venturing into cinema in 1949. She became one of the greatest female stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and, with her p ...

and produced by Pinal's then-husband Gustavo Alatriste, the film tells the story of a group of wealthy guests who find themselves unable to leave after a lavish dinner party, and the chaos that ensues. Sharply satirical and allegorical, it contains a depiction of the aristocracy that suggests they "harbor savage instincts and unspeakable secrets". Ebert, Roger
''The Exterminating Angel''
'' RogerEbert.com'', 11 May 1997. . In 2004, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' included the film in a list of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The film was adapted into an opera of the same name by

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: ''The Tempest (opera), The T ...

in 2016.

Plot

After a night at the opera, Edmundo and Lucía Nóbile host eighteen wealthy acquaintances at a dinner party at their mansion. The servants inexplicably begin to leave as the guests are about to arrive; by the time the meal is over, only Julio, the

majordomo A majordomo () is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a larg ...

, is left. Lucía cancels a planned surprise involving a bear and three sheep upon discovering that guest Sergio Russell does not like jokes, but there are a few strange occurrences, such as the guests somehow entering the mansion and going upstairs twice, Edmundo repeating his toast to the opera singer Silvia, and Cristián Ugalde and Leandro Gomez greeting each other three times (as strangers, cordially, and antagonistically). The guests mingle before adjourning to the salon to listen to Blanca play a Paradisi keyboard sonata. When she finishes, she says she is tired, and several other guests indicate they are about to go home, but no one does. Instead, without discussing it, the guests and hosts settle in and spend the night in the salon, preventing Lucía from sneaking off for a tryst with Colonel Alvaro Aranda. In the morning, it is discovered that Sergio is unconscious. The hosts and some of the guests wonder why no one attempted to leave the night before. A few guests try to exit the salon, but they all turn back or become distressed and stop before crossing the threshold. When Julio brings some leftovers for breakfast, he is trapped as well. By that evening, everyone is on edge. They are using a closet as a toilet and have run out of clean water. Raúl blames Eduardo for their plight, but Leticia defends the host. Sergio dies during the night, and Dr. Carlos Conde and Alvaro hide the corpse in a closet. A crowd of onlookers, police, and soldiers gathers outside the gates of the mansion over the following days; no one is able to enter, although there is no physical barrier. The trapped individuals get water by tapping into a pipe in the wall, but their good manners continue to deteriorate. A growing number of them become ill, and Dr. Conde has no medicine until Edmundo shows him a stash of

opiate An opiate is an alkaloid substance derived from opium (or poppy straw). It differs from the similar term ''opioid'' in that the latter is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain ( ...

s, which some of the guests sneak for themselves. At a particularly heated moment, the trapped group sees the three sheep and bear roaming the mansion. The sheep wander into the salon, where they are caught and roasted on a fire in the middle of the room. Eduardo and Beatriz, a young engaged couple, kill themselves in a closet. One night, all of the Nóbiles' servants are drawn back to the mansion. Inside, Raúl has convinced most of the other guests that their predicament will end if Edmundo dies. Dr. Conde attempts to reason with them, and a fight breaks out, the doctor assisted by Alvaro and Julio. Edmundo and Leticia come out of the curtained-off area they have begun to inhabit, and Edmundo offers to take his own life. He produces a small pistol he had hidden, but Leticia tells him to wait. She notices that all of the people and furniture are in the same spot as the night of the party, and has Blanca play the end of the piano sonata and everyone repeat the conversation that followed. This time, when Blanca says she is tired, the group can leave the salon and then the mansion. The members of the small crowd outside see them exit and are able to pass through the gates to greet them. To give thanks for their salvation, most of the group from the salon attend a

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

service. Afterwards, neither the clergy nor the churchgoers can leave the cathedral. The military fires on a group of people waiting in front of the cathedral while a flock of sheep enters the building.

Cast

;The Trapped *

as Leticia, nicknamed "La Valkiria" ("The

Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...

") * Jacqueline Andere as Alicia de Roc, Alberto's much younger wife *

José Baviera José Baviera (17 August 1906 – 13 August 1981) was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in more than 190 films and television shows between 1924 and 1979. He starred in Luis Buñuel's 1962 film ''The Exterminating Angel''. Selected filmogra ...

as Leandro Gomez, who lives in New York *

Augusto Benedico Augusto Benedico (December 20, 1909 – January 19, 1992), born Augusto Pérez Lias, was a Mexican actor of Spanish origin best known for his role as "Don Alberto Salvatierra" in the soap opera ''Los ricos también lloran'' and his role as "Don ...

as Dr. Carlos Conde * Luis Beristáin as Cristián Ugalde, Rita's husband, who has an

ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughin ...

and is a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

* Antonio Bravo as Sergio Russell, an older guest who does not like jokes and is the first to die * Claudio Brook as Julio, the

* César del Campo as Colonel Alvaro Aranda, who is having an affair with Lucía * Rosa Elena Durgel as Silvia, an opera singer * Lucy Gallardo as Lucía de Nóbile, Edmundo's wife and the hostess of the party * Enrique García Álvarez as Alberto Roc, Alicia's elderly husband, who is a

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and a Freemason *

Ofelia Guilmáin Ofelia Guilmáin (17 November 1921 – 14 January 2005) was a Spanish actress. She is also the mother of actors Juan Ferrara and Lucía Guilmáin. Two of her grandchildren, sons of Ferrara, Mauricio Bonet, Mauricio and Juan Carlos Bonet, are als ...

as Juana Avila, Francisco's overprotective sister * Nadia Haro Oliva as Ana Maynar, who was once in a train wreck and is interested in

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

* Tito Junco as Raúl, who walks with a cane * Xavier Loyá as Francisco Avila, Juana's brother * Xavier Massé as Eduardo, Beatriz's fiancé * Ofelia Montesco as Beatriz, Eduardo's fiancée * Patricia Morán as Rita Ugalde, Christian's wife, who is pregnant * Patricia de Morelos as Blanca, a pianist *

Bertha Moss Bertha Moss (August 7, 1919 – February 4, 2008), born Juana Bertha Moscovish Holm, was an Argentine actress of stage, television and film, famous for appearing in many Mexican telenovelas. Life She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She die ...

as Leonora, a woman who has cancer and is Dr. Conde's patient * Enrique Rambal as Edmundo Nóbile, Lucía's husband and the host of the party ;The Rest *

Pancho Córdova Francisco Amado Córdova Ramírez (1916 – 1990) was a Mexican character actor who has appeared in numerous films of United States and Mexico. Personal life He is the grandfather of actress Natalia Cordova-Buckley. Selected filmography Am ...

as Lucas, the

doorman A doorman, also known as doorkeeper, is someone who is posted at, and often guards, a door, or by extension another entrance (specific similar terms exist, e.g. gatekeeper, hall porter). Specific uses include: Professions * Doorman (profession), ...

, who is the first servant to leave * Ángel Merino as the waiter who trips and drops a tray of food * Luis Lomelí as the mayor's representative * Guillermo Álvarez Bianchi as Pablo, the chef * Elodia Hernández as Camila, the older maid * Florencio Castelló as the bald waiter * Eric del Castillo as Deacon Sampson, who tutors and cares for the Ugalde children and takes part in the

service at the end of the film * Chel López as the military official who tells the mayor's representative that his men were unable to enter the mansion * David Hayat (credited as David Hayyad Cohen) as Pablo's

sous-chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members of th ...

* Janet Alcoriza as the younger maid (uncredited) * Roberto Meyer as the "crazy" onlooker who is not allowed to try to get inside the mansion (uncredited) * Rita Macedo as a churchgoer (uncredited)

Production

The film was shot in less than six weeks, from January 29 to March 9, 1962. American actress

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

traveled to Mexico during that period, and her trip included a visit to

Churubusco Studios Estudios Churubusco is one of the oldest and largest movie studios in Mexico. It is located in the Churubusco neighborhood of Mexico City. History It was inaugurated in 1945 after a 1943 agreement between RKO and Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta ...

, where the film was being made. She visited the set and met Buñuel, cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, and the cast.

Release and reception

''The Exterminating Angel'' premiered at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in theaters in Mexico on October 1, 1964, to critical acclaim. On the

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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 has an approval rating of 93% based on 27 reviews, with an average score of 9.0/10. The site's consensus reads: "Societal etiquette devolves into depravity in Luis Buñuel's existential comedy, effectively playing the absurdity of civilization for mordant laughs".

Awards

This film received the

International Federation of Film Critics The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the worl ...

(FIPRESCI) Prize at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. At the 1963

Bodil Awards The Bodil Awards are the major Denmark, Danish film awards given by the Danish Film Critics Association. The awards are presented annually at a ceremony in Copenhagen. Established in 1948, it is one of the oldest film awards in Europe. The awards ...

, it won Best Non-European Film.

Home media

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 ...

released ''The Exterminating Angel'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on 10 February 2009, and on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in November 2016.

Analysis

Social class

Though Buñuel never explained how to interpret the film, leaving it to each viewer to decide, American film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

wrote a lengthy interpretation of the film as symbolic of

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

: "The dinner guests represent the ruling class in Franco's Spain. Having set a banquet table for themselves by defeating the workers in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, they sit down for a feast, only to find it never ends. They're trapped in their own bourgeois cul-de-sac. Increasingly resentful at being shut off from the world outside, they grow mean and restless; their worst tendencies are revealed". Scholar

Robert Stam Robert Stam (born October 29, 1941) is an American film theorist working on film semiotics. He is a professor at New York University, where he teaches about French New Wave filmmakers. Stam has published widely on French literature, comparative lite ...

said in his book ''Reflexivity in Film and Literature: From Don Quixote to Jean-Luc Godard'' that the film "is structured on the comic formula of a slow descent from normality into anarchy ... The 'Angel' executes a mission of social justice, an apocalyptic laying low of the noble and the powerful".

Influence on the horror genre

In a 2020 piece on the

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

website ''

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...

'', Samuel Pierce noted parallels between ''The Exterminating Angel'' and contemporary horror cinema, writing: "Within the film's already fascinating plot, there's plenty of poignant social commentary that will be just as familiar to horror fans. Though the film can be interpreted a number of ways, many of its themes are undeniable and as relevant today as they ever were. We see isolation drive madness. We see tribes form in times of strife. We see murder become more and more appealing. More than anything, however, ''The Exterminating Angel'' explores the hypocrisy of the social elite and the thin strands of society that keep them from utter depravity". Rather than a precursor to many contemporary horror films, some critics have classified ''The Exterminating Angel'' as a horror film itself. For example, Jonathan Romney of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called it a straightforward "claustrophobic horror story", and film scholar

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...

classified it as " comic horror".

Cultural references

* Cabaret Voltaire named the intro and outro tracks of their 1994 album ''The Conversation'' "Exterminating Angel". * The

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. British sitcoms have predominantly been recorded on studio sets, while some include an element of location filming. Live audiences and multi-camera ...

One Foot in the Grave ''One Foot in the Grave'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom written by David Renwick. There were six series (each consisting of six half-hour episodes) and seven Christmas specials over a period of ten years from early 1990 to late ...

'' broadcast the episode "The Exterminating Angel" in 1995, including a scene where several characters are trapped in a conservatory. *

The Creatures The Creatures were an English band formed in 1981 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and drummer Budgie both members of the group Siouxsie and the Banshees. Their music, initially based on drums and voice, evolved over the years. The Creatures releas ...

recorded the song "Exterminating Angel" for their 1999 album '' Anima Animus''. * The 2002 ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

'' episode "

Older and Far Away The sixth season of the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' premiered on October 2, 2001, with a two-hour premiere on UPN and concluded its 22-episode season with a two-hour finale on May 21, 2002. It maintained its previous timeslot ...

" references the film when a set of characters is unable to leave a house after a party. Initially, the characters seem psychologically unable to leave, but later they desire to leave and physically cannot due to a spell. *

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

's 2011 film ''

Midnight in Paris ''Midnight in Paris'' is a 2011 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. Set in Paris, the film follows Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a screenwriter and aspiring novelist, who is forced to confront the shortcomings of his relationsh ...

'' has the main character, Gil, travel back in time to 1920s Paris and suggest a story to a perplexed young Buñuel about guests who arrive for a dinner party and cannot leave. Allen references the film again in '' Rifkin's Festival'' (2020). *

' 2016 opera of the same name is based on this film. * Composer

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

announced a collaboration with playwright David Ives in October 2014, developing a new musical with a plot inspired by both ''The Exterminating Angel'' and Buñuel's 1972 film ''

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 ...

''. Projected openings were deferred and production ceased at some point, but the composer held a September 2021 reading for ''Square One''. Following Sondheim's death, Ives announced the musical, renamed '' Here We Are'', which had a world premiere in September 2023 at The Shed.

References

External links

* *
''The Exterminating Angel: Exterminating Civilization''
an essay by Marsha Kinder at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

''Cinema Then, Cinema Now: The Exterminating Angel''
a 1992 discussion of the film hosted by Jerry Carlson of CUNY TV {{DEFAULTSORT:Exterminating Angel, The 1962 films 1962 comedy-drama films 1960s avant-garde and experimental films 1960s fantasy comedy-drama films 1960s Mexican films Estudios Churubusco films Films about parties Films about social class Films about the upper class Films adapted into operas Films directed by Luis Buñuel Films set in country houses Mexican black comedy films Mexican black-and-white films Mexican fantasy comedy-drama films Mexican films based on plays Surreal comedy films Absurdist fiction