favourite Buñuel endings
gijsm
Today I saw a pineapple in my kitchen. It reminded me to the ending of
NAZARÍN.
Nazarín is a victim of dispair and doubt when a woman offers him a
pineapple as alms.
Several endings of Buñuel films are very strong and intriguing. What
is your favourite? I have in mind:
- Virdiana, where she's going to play cards (tute) with Jorge and the
housemaid (a menage a trois?)
- Tristana, where she opens the window in the bedroom of Don Lope, in
his agony of death
- Él, when the protagonist is zigzagging in the monastry.
More suggestions, more ideas...?
Zontar Johnson
In article <1116183173....@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
elag
I have a certain fondness for the ending of "Nazarin". The drums of
Calanda do it for me every time.
What other film/films use the drums?
I also find the ostrich at the tail of "Phantom of Liberty" to be quite funny.
--
replace "8" with "9" to reply
gijsm
Nazarín - as they are in L'âge d'or: also a scene where the
protagonist (Gaston Modot) is in despair. He furiously starts throwings
things while you hear that roll of drums...
There are several other films where they appear, and Buñuel's son,
Juan Luis, made a documentary solely on the drums of Calanda.
- Another very powerful ending is that of Los abismos de pasión
(Wuthering heights): the profanation of the grave, the kissing of the
dead woman, the delirium, the brutal killing of Heathcliff..
- Somewhat less brilliant - in my opinion - are the endings of Tristana
(the rather melodramatic death of Don Lope, the snow...) and Simón del
desierto (Simon goes to the 20th century). And of course the
politically correct second (never used) ending of Los Olvidados where
Pedro is going back to the reformatory.
- Lot of Buñuel's later films are more a collection of gags than a
classical narration, so the ending is less essential (?)
elag
>
> - Yeah, the drums of Calanda are of vital importance in the ending of
> Nazarín - as they are in L'âge d'or: also a scene where the
> protagonist (Gaston Modot) is in despair. He furiously starts throwings
> things while you hear that roll of drums...
> There are several other films where they appear, and Buñuel's son,
> Juan Luis, made a documentary solely on the drums of Calanda.
Ah, now I remember... I always wanted to see the documentary but I guess
it isn't screened much, except for excerpts.
>
> - Another very powerful ending is that of Los abismos de pasión
> (Wuthering heights): the profanation of the grave, the kissing of the
> dead woman, the delirium, the brutal killing of Heathcliff..
>
> - Somewhat less brilliant - in my opinion - are the endings of Tristana
> (the rather melodramatic death of Don Lope, the snow...) and Simón del
> desierto (Simon goes to the 20th century). And of course the
> politically correct second (never used) ending of Los Olvidados where
> Pedro is going back to the reformatory.
Thank goodness they spared us that.
>
> - Lot of Buñuel's later films are more a collection of gags than a
> classical narration, so the ending is less essential (?)
More than a collection of gags I would say, rather experiments with
formless narrative or stream of conciousness, just like the early
Surrealist novels or games like Exquisite Corpse.
They also prefigure films like "Slacker" which dissolve rules of narrative.
gijsm
> I always wanted to see the documentary but I guess
> it isn't screened much, except for excerpts.
I found a video for 6 euro at the Instituo de Estudios Turolenses
http://www.dpteruel.es/iet.htm, it can be ordered by mail
ieturo...@dpteruel.es.
> > - Lot of Buñuel's later films are more a collection of gags than a
> > classical narration, so the ending is less essential (?)
>
> More than a collection of gags I would say, rather experiments with
> formless narrative or stream of conciousness, just like the early
> Surrealist novels or games like Exquisite Corpse.
>
> They also prefigure films like "Slacker" which dissolve rules of narrative.
That was a rather oversimplified formulation of me...
The last shot you mentioned of Le fantôme, a film with formless
narrative, is also meaningful, isn't it? The ostrich, that peculiar
creature, is funny but also... disturbing: the camara zooms in on the
head of an alarmed animal that looks around with big eyes - these
eyes..., again.
Of course, Don Luis would brush aside any underlying explanations.
elag
I was thinking of it as an amusing snipe at the bourgeoisie who (like
the mythic ostrich) bury their heads in the sand as the world comes down
around them. I recall that the background sound is terrorist bombs and
machine guns, which rings even truer today than thirty years ago.
>
> Of course, Don Luis would brush aside any underlying explanations.
Maybe... he probably wouldn't like his films to be overanalyzed, but I
think the ostrich joke, for example, was more or less conscious and plain.