The Phantom of Liberty Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

So what is freedom?

Bunuel is arguably the most inventive of all the great filmmakers. Not in a technical sense rather in the uniqueness of his vision and his clarity and precision in bringing his vision onto the screen. After winning the best foreign film oscar in 1972 for 'Discret Charm of the Bourgeoisie' Bunuel, then in his 70's found that money flowed into his last 2 projects 'Phantom of Liberty' and 'That Obscure Object of Desire'. Of the three this is the most surreal and can be difficult to understand, partly because of the bizarre plot and partly because of the depth of it's driving intellectual idea. It is a series of 'vignettes' linked by a this one thread of an idea. The key to unlocking the mystery of this movie is Goya's painting 'The 3rd of May 1808, The Executions' about the executions of Spaniards in Toledo. The French soldiers where supposed to bring freedom to the enchained Spanish people. 'Death to freedom, long live chains' shouts a Spaniard just before his execution at the hands of French soldiers.

The painting appears at the start of the film and again in a later scene. See if you can spot it. I don't want to spoil any of this marvellous film by mentioning any of the strange events that unfold. Every strange scene is filmed and acted as if perfect normality prevails and dream and reality are seemlessly merged. And the one 'big idea' that Bunuel dissects with precision? Liberty is elusive and generally only brings misery to mankind, except to a priviledged few who then make very stupid use if their freedom. Unfortunately there is no background information on this disc and newcomers to Bunuel would be well advised to do some homework first, either from the various commentaries that exist or by buying a US import which has lots of extra material. We are very poorly served in this respect in the UK.

Enjoyable Surrealism

Firmly in the vein of L'Age D'or and Un Chien Andalou (although more playful and less aggressive than those films), Phantom Of Liberty is a rambling, loosely connected series of sketches ridiculing the bourgeoise and their lifestyles.

Nothing here feels earth-shattering in the same way that ...Andalou did, but there is much to enjoy.