A brilliant, gripping, and darkly hilarious look at male insanity and paranoia. The main character is a demented asshole with a bit of a foot fetish and a jealous streak that would embarrass Ralph Kramden. Great ending.

The greatest portrait of obsession; The main character, brilliantly played by Arturo de Córdova, is both a louse and an unsympathetic figure who's just merely gone off the deep end. Jealousy is taken to a whole new extreme with this masterpiece. The bell tower scene is bar none, my favorite scene of all films I've seen so far.

333

An early Bunuel classic about obsession.

"Released at the pinnacle of his prolific Mexican period, Él (This Strange Passion) remains one of Buñuel's crowning achievements." - Ed Gonzalez

Bunuel knows his bourgeoisie well - and here, he makes a magnetic one out of a frighteningly misogynistic, impotent, hypocrite git. It creates some fantastic tension in the last act by using its framing device (if she's not narrating, then she might just die!), some uncharacteristic expressionism during his Madness, and I love Bunuel's use of fetish symbolism in the Church. But it seems a castrated Bunuel - a low-budget, quickie programmer that only casually reveals Bunuel's own fetishes.

Much better than The Exterminating Angel with an awesome ending as well.

This is the first Bunuel film that I've felt that I really got.

#333

315

Bizarre black comedy.

Great tension and a fantastic main character. At times it felt vaguely Hitchcockian!

A tragi-comic case history with chilling and memorable details; not one of its director's great works, but an engaging minor one.

# 327

One of the greats of Buñuel's Mexican period.

A very good movie with an excellent lead character. It's not often you see a main character this demented in a non-violent film and it makes for very interesting experience. The supporting performances are pretty good too and the script has the usual Buñuel touches.