Death in the Garden (La Mort en ce jardin) (1956)

91% of critics liked it
(11 reviews)
53% of users liked it
(358 ratings)

Recharging his creative batteries with a "commercial" venture, director Luis Bunuel came up with the stylish if undistinguished La Mort en ce Jardin (Death in This Garden). Set in a steaming jungle, the film concerns a disparate group of refugees from a despotic military regime. Among these worthies… More Recharging his creative batteries with a "commercial" venture, director Luis Bunuel came up with the stylish if undistinguished La Mort en ce Jardin (Death in This Garden). Set in a steaming jungle, the film concerns a disparate group of refugees from a despotic military regime. Among these worthies is "good time girl" Djin (Simone Signoret), ageing miner Castin (Charles Vanel) and deaf-mute Marie (Michele Girardon). The deeper the protagonists venture into the jungle, the more Bunuel's patented surrealism begins to surface. Only two of the escapees survive the ordeal, and they aren't necessary the two whom the viewers are rooting for. Some prints of La Mort en ce Jardin bear the title Gina. hel) F Lorsque L'Enfant Paris (When the Child Appears) was adapted from the hit play by Andre Roussin. The story revolves around the efforts of a well-meaning, highly moralistic minister, who wants the government to clamp down on illegitimacy. Complications ensue when the minister's own wife become pregnant--and all evidence indicates that the child is not his. Adding to the protagonist's headaches, his daughter, on the eve of her wedding to a wealthy young man, announces that she, too, may well be in the family way. Not to be left out, the minister's son declares that he thinks he's impregnated his father's secretary! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Luis Buñuel
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International

In Theaters: Sep 21, 1956 Wide
On DVD: Oct 27, 2009
Studio: Sutton Pictures

Critic Reviews

Vincent Canby, New York Times
Death in the Garden is a kind of halfway house for the film genius, made when he had yet to receive the acclaim that would give him full control of his movies, but after he had been taken seriously enough by the money men.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
No masterpiece, but a prime example of subversive cinema.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Luis Bunuel's rarely seen "Death in the Garden" (1955) is a survivalist suspense film with a subtle dose of political and religious commentary.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
The film is less about eroding beliefs than acknowledging the fragility of their certainty
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... a wonderfully cynical thriller filled with brilliant Bunuelian flourishes and a grim sense of futility.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Brilliant neglected action/adventure film written and directed by Luis Buñuel.
Matthew Sorrento, Film Threat
One of the masters of cinema continually thrills because he grabs us from the outside (i.e., through social commentary) and the inside (by tapping into the psychological).
Dan Lybarger, eFilmCritic.com
Spanish-born director Luis Buñuel had such a distinctive style and outlook that even his minor films are fascinating to watch.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's not an obvious artistic masterpiece, but it is a case of a brilliant, talented director making the most out of a routine project.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
A minor Buñuel work, Death in the Garden is mostly notable for capturing Simone Signoret in color for the first time and at her most impatient as an actress.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Signoret's frenzy becomes her character's, enervating an otherwise humdrum melodrama.

Read all 11 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Matheus C

It's "The Exterminating Angel" with a jungle setting, with characters being pray to their surrounds and revealing their real personalities to the audience an to each other. The colour cinematography is quite striking, especially when you have a very blonde and very… More
It's "The Exterminating Angel" with a jungle setting, with characters being pray to their surrounds and revealing their real personalities to the audience an to each other. The colour cinematography is quite striking, especially when you have a very blonde and very dangerous Simone Signoret in red lisptick.
Eric B

There was some "lost classic" hype buzzing around "Death in the Garden," when the film was belatedly released on DVD last year. Sorry to say, the hoopla is not earned. I had a harder time sitting through this than any other Luis Bunuel film I've seen, and… More
There was some "lost classic" hype buzzing around "Death in the Garden," when the film was belatedly released on DVD last year. Sorry to say, the hoopla is not earned. I had a harder time sitting through this than any other Luis Bunuel film I've seen, and I've seen most of his less appreciated works. And people try to compare this with "Aguirre, Wrath of God"? The heart of the plot is a small, eclectic band of people tramping through the jungle, trying to escape a South American village governed by a corrupt police force. The group includes a priest (Michel Piccoli, in his first of seven BuÃÂ±uel pictures), a prostitute (Simone Signoret), a macho outsider (Georges Marchal), a deaf girl and her cook father. The main problem is that the film takes about 50 minutes to arrive at this point. Before that, the story just wanders around the village, establishing characters and the fundamental conflict: a riot brewing after the police seize the diamond mine that provides everyone's livelihood. There is one notable flash of perversity, however: Marchal's character, Shark, enters the film by casually flipping his middle finger at the troops. A somewhat shocking inclusion, by 1956 standards. Once the central characters are on the run, the story becomes a bit more interesting. The fugitives turn punchy with exhaustion and hunger, and a more primal clash of personalities emerges. Signoret has promised herself to the cook, but only because of the money he has stockpiled to open a restaurant. But she has second thoughts, and starts feeling drawn toward Marchal instead. Piccoli tries to be a calming presence, but is predictably ineffectual (this is a Luis Bunuel film, after all). The five hope to sail away to Brazil, but their internal tensions may become more of an obstacle than the police pursuing them. All this sounds much more compelling than it is. It's one of Bunuel's earliest color projects, and plenty of gun action helps cover the incongruity of a Spanish director making a French-language film about South America. And there are two subversive insertions which can't be missed: a memorable image of a large snake being swarmed by fire ants (Bunuel always loves his insects!) and a strange, delirious anecdote from Piccoli about an old seminary classmate who liked to eat soft-boiled eggs. But the first half's tedium can't be overcome and, in the end, "Death in the Garden" doesn't feel like much more than a second-rate adventure movie.
Walter M

In "Death in the Garden," the military of a South American country is ordered to nationalize the diamond mines and has given a day for everyone to clear out. In response, they go to talk to Captain Ferrero(Jorge Martinez de Hoyos) who surprisingly agrees to a meeting but… More
In "Death in the Garden," the military of a South American country is ordered to nationalize the diamond mines and has given a day for everyone to clear out. In response, they go to talk to Captain Ferrero(Jorge Martinez de Hoyos) who surprisingly agrees to a meeting but only on the condition that they leave their guns outside. This they will not do and a small gunfight erupts, with the miners fleeing in the wake of superior firepower. After the smoke clears, Chark(Georges Marchal) gives the soldiers a one finger salute. He treats Djin(Simone Signoret) better before she rats him out to the local authorities. With his film "Death in the Garden," Luis Bunuel makes a logical case for the randomness of the universe and against a higher power while also ironically making use of a deus ex machina. How else do you explain a priest(Michel Piccoli) on a fool's errand who is better dressed than anyone else? The military might be in their rights to kick out the foreigners who only seek to exploit the mineral wealth of their country but they are horribly brutal in their methods. The disparate group of characters at the heart of the movie, as more than one character points out, is all in the same boat, literally and figuratively, no matter their respective sins.