The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

The charm of the film is that the old magician can show off his skills and make fun of them at the same time... There is nothing else in the movie -- just the surprises, and the pleasures of [Buñuel] dexterity as he springs them.

... Simultaneously darkly satirical, bleak, witty and lightly amusing.

Bunuel’s art is as insolent as ever. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a deeply funny movie, as a viewing experience it’s like walking across a perilous, sway little bridge whose guide rails periodically snatched away.

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie is full of surreal sequences revealing its characters’ unconsciouses – but it also offers up a far more cynical, all too recognisable reality.

Luis Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a deliciously pungent concoction by the 72-year-old filmmaker and his young co-scenarist, Jean-Claude Carriere, that will set your spirits soaring and your mind aglow.

I had forgotten just how spooky the dream scenes are; Bunuel could have been a master of horror, or a great farceur. As it was, he was simply Bunuel, which is cause enough for celebration.

Surrealist satire attacking the upper classes for their sexual morals, attraction to social status, and detachment from reality...

Discreet Charm is a deadpan farce forever flirting with anarchy.

Absurdity is piled onto absurdity and reality and surreality blend until it is impossible to tell which is which.

A fascinating and thought-provoking work of cinema.