The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Cinema’s master surrealist Luis Bunuel made this withering satire of social conventions and bourgeois values late in his career as part of his successful collaboration with French writer Jean-Claude Carrière. As six upper class sophisticates repeatedly attempt and fail to have dinner together, Bunuel delights in confounding them with increasingly absurdist conceits and bizarre interruptions, blurring reality and dreams to disorienting effect. The screening will be followed by an open audience discussion led by an expert panel from the fields of film and psychoanalysis.

‘In my search for titles, I’ve always tried to follow the old surrealist trick of finding a totally unexpected word or group of words which opens up a new perspective on a painting or book… While we were working on the screenplay… we never once thought about the word “bourgeoisie”… Finally, someone suggested Le Charme de la Bourgeoisie; but [co-writer Jean-Claude] Carrière pointed out that we needed an adjective, so after sifting through what seemed like thousands of them, we finally stumbled upon “discreet”. Suddenly the film took on a different shape altogether, even a different point of view. It was truly a marvelous discovery.’

Luis Bunuel, Director, from his autobiography, My Last Sigh.