Exterminating Angel, The

The sound of a tolling church bell prefaces the bizarre events that are to unfold at a Mexican estate on Providence Street. An aristocrat appropriately named Nobile has invited several society friends to his home after the opera. But even as the dinner preparations are underway, the servants feel an inexplicable urge to depart from the premises. Despite the threat of dis­missal, an anxious footman, Lucas, is the first to leave. As the guests arrive and ascend the stairs to deposit their overcoats for the evening, two more servants attempt to escape, only to turn back when the guests emerge from the room. Or do they? The hours pass. The people yawn and stretch out in exhaustion, yet no one leaves. Luis Bunuel uses sardonic humor and surrealist imagery as instruments of social indictment in The Exterminating Angel. In a culture defined by etiquette instead of humanity, Bunuel exposes the underlying artifice and hypoc­risy of civilized society. In essence, it is the burden of the guests to perform the meaningless, Sisyphean rituals dictated by their privileged class: the repetitive introductions, the polite ac­ceptance of social invitations, and the perpetuation of self-indulgent dinner parties. However, it is also the passive comfort of their social status that creates their claustrophobic isolation and complacent inertia. Stripped of their pretense, their innate behavior remains fundamentally instinctual, base, and primal. Ironically, it is a return to the ritual that liberates them from their artificial prison. The Exterminating Angel is a mesmerizing, richly symbolic, allegorical tale on the nature of human behavior: of masters and servants, of excess and want, and of fraternity and alienation.
Spain Mexico
'
1962

Director
Luis Bunuel

Script
Luis Buñuel

Cinematography
Gabriel Figueroa

Editing
Carlos Savage

Production
Gustavo Alatriste Productions

Cast
Anthony Bravo
Augustus Benedico
Claudio Brook
Enrique Rambal
Jacqueline Andere
Jose Baviera
Silvia Pinal

Music
Raœl Lavista

Awards
Best Film Bodil

Festivals
13th Festival on Wheels
Haneke's CHOICE