El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) (1962)
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95% of critics liked it
(20 reviews) -
93% of users liked it
(6,623 ratings)
The great screen surrealist Luis Buñuel co-wrote and directed this dark, bitterly witty satire. A group of people in formal dress arrives at an elegantly appointed home for a dinner party. However, once dinner is over and the guests retire to the drawing room, they discover that the servants have… More The great screen surrealist Luis Buñuel co-wrote and directed this dark, bitterly witty satire. A group of people in formal dress arrives at an elegantly appointed home for a dinner party. However, once dinner is over and the guests retire to the drawing room, they discover that the servants have gone away, and for some reason they cannot leave. There is no explanation why -- there are no locked doors or barred windows preventing them from going home -- but the guests are convinced that they're stranded. Left to their own devices, they slowly but gradually degenerate into genteel savagery, taking an axe to a water pipe for drinking water, killing and eating a sheep that was to be part of the post-dinner entertainment, hiding the bodies of dead guests in the closet, dabbling in witchcraft, and burning the furniture. Buñuel's dry, quixotic wit is abundantly displayed in this film. Leading the cast was Silvia Pinal, the renowned actress who starred in several of Buñuel's Mexican films (she was married to noted producer Gustavo Alatriste, who produced several films with Buñuel). Other than the short subject Simon of the Desert, El Angel Exterminador proved to be Buñuel's last film made in his adopted homeland. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Luis Buñuel
- Written By
- Jose Bergamin, Luis Alcoriza
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Aug 21, 1967 Wide
- Studio
- Altura Films International
Critic Reviews
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Bosley Crowther, New York Times
My feeling is that his canvas is too narrow and his social comment too plain to keep our interest fixed upon his people and their barren stewing for an hour and a half.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
A macabre comedy, a mordant view of human nature that suggests we harbor savage instincts and unspeakable secrets.
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Dan Jardine, Cinemania
The comedy is as black as an 8 Ball.
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
A wickedly designed, satirical and quite possibly dangerous work.
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Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis
Absurdity is relative; it requires a reality (or something less absurd) to be contrasted with.
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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Silvia Pinal
as Letitia the Valkyrie
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Jacqueline Andere
as Senora Alicia Roc
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Jose Baviera
as Leandro
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Augusto Benedico
as Doctor
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Luis Beristáin
as Christian
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Antonio Bravo
as Russell
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Enrique Rambal
as Nobile
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Enrico Garcia Alvarez
as Senor Roc
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Claudio Brook
as Majordomo
- Pancho Cordova
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Rosa Elena Durgel
as Silvia
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Lucy Gallardo
as Lucia
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Ofelia Guilmain
as Juana Avita
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Tito Junco Sr.
as Raul
- Chel López
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Bertha Moss
as Leonora
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Ofelia Montesco
as Beatriz
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Javier Loya
as Francisco Avila