The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Several bourgeois friends planning to get together for dinner experience a succession of highly unusual occurrences that interfere with their expected dining enjoyment. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Luis Buñuel
Written By: Jean-Claude Carrière, Luis Buñuel
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Fernando Rey, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Stéphane Audran, Bulle Ogier, Milena Vukotic, Delphine Seyrig, Claude Piéplu, Paul Frankeur, Julien Bertheau, Muni, Maria Gabriella Maione
AKA: Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie
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The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie belongs to 90 collections
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Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 7 |  |
CCLZA | 100 99th |
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A delicious, clever dark humor film with some truly outstanding dream scenes. Surrealism at its best.
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| 5 |  |
JakeAesthete | 54 51st |
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When I first heard that title, I thought finally someone's going to tell the truth about the bourgeoisie. What a disappointment, it would be hard to imagine a less fair or accurate portrait.
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| 4 |  |
terrymac | 93 99th |
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The second mad Bunuel film I watched in two days, and another I really enjoyed. Put me in mind of some of the more surreal and confusing dreams I've had, which is at once fascinating and unsettling. It's probably more accessible in terms of its themes than the other films of his I've seen, but no less intriguing. I've got a boxset of this nonsense - I'll be through it in no time. Recommended.
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| 4 |  |
Jeb | 91 82nd |
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Surreal, audacious and severly enjoyable, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeroisie is one of the most entertaining, dark and outrageous black comedies ever filmed.
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| 4 |  |
b4con | 96 97th |
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The idea that this movie could be a sitcom (if some of the cruder elements were removed) is highly amusing to me. The solipsism is mind numbing.. it's sort of like No Exit but the individuals are willful participants or occupants in their realities, and that makes all the satire so much more maddening for the viewer.
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| 4 |  |
Judge Holden | 3 32nd |
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Filled with cheap and obvious satire and surrealism straight out of a Tuesday afternoon sitcom.
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| 3 |  |
djross | 65 70th |
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Cleverly composed with many parts done well, but the fact that an assault on the bourgeoisie can be so unanimously liked by cinephiles (a fairly bourgeois crowd, after all, even if mostly petit, perhaps) gives reason to wonder what is going on here between the filmmaker and his audience.
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| 3 |  |
Pickpocket | 9 93rd |
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Very lovely film with some of the best cinematography I've ever seen. Surreal and I loved it. I bet it gets better with repeated viewings too.
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| 3 |  |
CinematicESP | 90 87th |
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I absolutely love Bunuel's sense of humor. Subtle, yet sharply satirical. The understated performances sell the whole thing.
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| 3 |  |
saucyjack | 95 98th |
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Excellent skewering of the upper class through Bunuel's signature surrealist lens and black humor.
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| 3 |  |
vesupria | 8 88th |
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What was Buñuel trying to say in this twisted array of surreal dreams and visions? I don't think distinguishing between reality and dream is important, but it's more a social study on the (irrational) impulses of the bourgeoisie. For all of their financial advantages and "social manners" they cannot seem to be even able to have dinner without being distracted. They are on a road to nowhere. Here this is presented in an often surprising, charming and humorous fashion.
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| 3 |  |
purgatos | 87 86th |
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It's very funny and while, if you really look at it, it's actually pretty mean spirited; the humour means that you don't feel it as much as if a non-Buñuel had done it.
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| 3 |  |
glumpy_99 | 92 85th |
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Absurdist film from Luis Bunuel is enormously entertaining, following a group of bourgeoisie as they attempt to meet for dinner. Bizarre surreal events ensue. The entire cast is wonderful, and Bunuel maintains a light touch, encouraging the audience to chuckle at his protagonists without being mean-spirited (you feel they are all helpless to Bunuel's machinations). Great fun, and very funny at times. A clear inspiration for David Lynch.
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| 2 |  |
MartinTeller | 88 91st |
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Many of the shots in this film are so plainly lit and blandly composed as to be no more visually exciting than an episode of "Love, American Style". But he does manage a few terrific images, like the repeated motif of the characters trudging down their endless road to nowhere. What's more important is the delightful array of absurdist situations he employs to skewer the arrogance, indifference and hypocrisy of the bourgeois. Quietly amusing, and tremendously clever and incisive and surprising.
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| 2 |  |
DavidKahane | 85 76th |
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Watching Bunuel's wicked, surreal assault on the upper class made me feel like I needed to do some outside reading to keep up. Bunuel takes dead aim at the hypocrisy and judgmental nature of his characters, showing how their zealotry over stature controls all. It's an odd, devilish beast and a complex, questing work. It may not fully warm my heart, but I can readily see it as a piece of cinematic art capable of launching a thousand film classes.
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| 2 | cruelclown | 75 62nd |
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A bit corny for my taste. Surrealism does not have to be cheap and pretentious.
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| 2 |  |
Nathan S | 4 74th |
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Scathing though it may be, what strikes me most is how Bunuel refuses to outright dehumanize these characters. Surprisingly, I just couldn't hate these people. He condemns their arrogance, hypocrisy, and entitlement, but recognizes their fears and desires.
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| 2 |  |
Anomaly | 89 93rd |
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Wonderfully surreal and quite funny. Buñuel revels in the character's hypocrisy and selfishness, while providing plenty to chew on. Great satire.
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| 2 |  |
KasperL | 60 50th |
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I didn't have fun with this one. The whole "it was just a dream (again)! clever, eh?" stick grew stale really fast for me.
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| 2 |  |
Thomassejer | 95 98th |
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Art!!!
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| 2 |  |
lisa- | 4 52nd |
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what beings as a rather dull and uninteresting chatter-fest turns into something a bit more amusing as it descends further down the rabbit-hole of dreamland. seems to be a representation of the collective paranoia of the upper classes. nonetheless, it still doesn't reach the dizzying heights you might expect given its reputation, and its wit isn't exactly sharp. it's also ironic that this film isn't exactly a low-budget garage project.
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| 2 |  |
dardan | 70 70th |
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There's always a violence to Bunuel, as though there's a hurdle within the narrative that's put between him and the audience, beyond which we may never really travel.
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| 1 |  |
Moribunny | 10 4th |
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Utterly bland. Satire is Buñuel's weakest link.
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| 1 | CatScandal | 72 75th |
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Has some quite funny, satirical moments, but the end rather runs down into repetition, and I think it makes a stronger statement as an absurdist, situationist farce than as any kind of serious allegory.
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| 1 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 82 67th |
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I really enjoyed most of this, it's got a lot of great moments and twists throughout the film. The ending really threw me for a loop and while I can't deny how much I enjoyed all the parts, the ending really made the whole fall apart.
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| 1 |  |
caiman | 90 92nd |
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When a filmmaker has the tenacity to create a film that's freed from the confines of typical narrative, and he knows how to do it properly (a key point), what you have is a fascinating, fresh film experience. Bunuel succeeds. I like the subtle satire and the dark humor, but what I love about this film is the brilliant free-flowing, carefree narrative. It's fun, amusing, and refreshingly unhinged.
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| 1 |  |
Suture Self | 8 81st |
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Bunuel is clearly a good director yet something about him doesn't speak directly to me, and that's what I want out of my directors, because I'm very selfish and finicky and kind of an overall asshole. But, the asshole marxist in me is amused by some of his satire, and I did enjoy how he kind of shattered the chronology of events with the dream within a dream within a dream gimmick. I also like that all of their dreams led to nowhere/their own deaths. Damn bourgeoisie. "Ha ha!" - Nelson.
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| 1 |  |
darkman | 63 23rd |
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I don' get it. Is this supposed to be funny?
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| 1 |  |
helfen419 | 85 76th |
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It was funny and the story was even interesting. But the acting just seemed a bit off.
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| 1 | scurry | 70 90th |
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Hilarious satire, and well worth seeing, but not a masterpiece, surely? A shallow 'deep' film. Then, surrealism often is. It must be the Freudian influence, which is also shallow deep. Because the absurd (of dreams, and bourgeois sensibilities, etc.) is hard to grasp, we pretend it has meaning, essentially making a kind of 'sense' of the nonsense, which by definition has none. The only ones we're psychoanalyzing here are ourselves, as 'psychologists'. Ergo, all along, the bourgeoisie - was us.
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| 1 |  |
lumpnboy | 70 81st |
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Once viewed as boldly surrealist satire, it now seems an almost realist portrayal of intersecting bourgeois economy, society, and 'values'. According to a first-time viewer in her early thirties I watched it with recently, the film says it is 'surreal', signals it for you, but doesn't seem very different from other movies in which people dream, except that straightforwardly showing everyday, normal bourgeois hypocrisy and criminality could disturb the collective political unconscious(ness).
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| 1 |  |
Neonman | 77 55th |
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Hmm. It was difficult trying to get any enjoyment out of this film initially, as the dreams kept burying themselves within each other, I was just wondering where it was going to end up. Turns out ... nowhere -- the film just continues walking down the road, hoping to get to its destination soon. By the time it does, it won't even be aware of it.
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| 1 |  |
moraesfelipe | 87 94th |
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Provocative, brilliantly cinic and bitingly funny. A must-see for movie lovers.
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| 1 |  |
oskarhu | 88 96th |
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Bunuel still does it well in his later years.
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| 1 |  |
WWallce4prez | 80 72nd |
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I can't claim to get everything Bunuel is laying down but I can revel in his superb absurdity. It's confusing, it's funny, and it is probably saying a lot about European politics circa 1970.
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| 1 |  |
Seryxa | 100 93rd |
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A frequently hilarious, sometimes savage surrealist fable which makes all its points beautifully and then goes on 20 minutes too long. The performances are a joy.
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| 1 |  |
lawrence | 95 53rd |
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JUST EAT ALREADY!
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| 1 |  |
FunkyAstro | 80 80th |
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Seamlessly flows from one WTF moment to the next leaving you with a world of subtle mindfuck accompanied by some pretty decent dark humor. Most of it was smirky for me but I had a couple genuine laughs. I did like the part when the military was fighting a war outside their dinner party. And the state of constant using and abusing accompanied by paranoia was spot on. Still, I don't see what the big fuss is about. I see people like this everyday. Maybe it's hard to spot the forest from the trees.
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| 1 |  |
wetwillies | 80 37th |
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For the most part, I appreciated this film more than I enjoyed it. However, there's a shot at the end that had me giggling uncontrollably. It's the perfect final joke to this bizarre ride. It makes the preceding 100 minutes worth it.
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| 1 |  |
katje_ | 50 15th |
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Chop it up and turn it into a series of SNL sketches, I'll like it a lot (and no, this is not dark humor, it is not subtle irony and it's very, very, very dated).
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| 1 |  |
d_drudges | 80 90th |
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Not so much about the characters themselves as what they believe in. There's a certain type of people who define themselves by adhering to a social construct in order to feel special, or even inherently better than other people. A grotesque form of theatre. It's not era dependent either, I know people today who would fit right in.
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| 1 | giturra | 99 86th |
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What can I say¡ Just Buñuel at his funniest best! It's just such an irreverent and charming movie. Surreal but not hermetic nor pretentious, it's one of his most accesible works. Delicious from beggining to end. Highly recommended. Even though he made even better films! What a genius Buñuel was!
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| 1 |  |
Noblet | 67 43rd |
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I guess I just think that Buñuel films are interesting, but not at all funny. I really liked the dream sequences at least.
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| 1 | li0li | 50 22nd |
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Another communist anti-bourgeois propaganda film, I've heard it all before, told in a slow, boring way, without any particularly interesting shots or cinematography. Not a good film.
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| 1 |  |
ShaqFilmClub | 100 85th |
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5 Shaqtaculars
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| 1 | xacviant | 88 87th |
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Fairly delightful slice of surreal satire from Buñuel, as a group of faintly pompous bourgeoisie try repeatedly to dine together, in betwixt grappling with other absurd irritants. The kind of humor which tickles you more than it makes you laugh out loud...and yet, in doing so, it arguably resonates more deeply than a more overtly funny film might have.
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| 1 |  |
schizotoast | 20 4th |
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Fuck off now.
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| 1 | DavidThomson | 99 94th |
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The history of Buñuel's career is the distilattion of rage, until he is able to isolate that mundane irritation that still afflicts the well-fed when they have to wait. The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie is their polite handling of their sense of futility and dismay. (Of course, it is also one of those sublime titles that applies to the medium as a whole.) Sooner or later, a meal becomes a massacre. This is the work of a great filmmaker in his classic period.
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| 1 | Nepeta | 70 44th |
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The weirdness of it all is enjoyable and quite unsettling and there are two great scenes - when the terrorist trashes the room whilst the man flirts with her, and the dinner table on the stage. Still I felt quite cold towards it. It is very well put together but something about it just doesn't ring true or hit home. The characters feel like empty vessels there only to be a part of the events as is the story which seems to be there mainly to provide satire. It just feels lifeless.
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| 1 |  |
Armilio | 50 9th |
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Outdated anti-bourgeois satire, without any particular technical achievement - except from a good cinematography. The "dream inside a dream" mechanism was nothing new even in the 1972. I love surrealism but not when it is used to explain a very materialistic and realistic point-of-view: it's not the right tool, it becomes only a rebus to resolve, where the answer will be only a shallow aphorism. And there is a more "materialistic and realistic" point-of-view than marxism?
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| 1 |  |
barisyasar | 87 87th |
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Reporter: Who are your favorite characters in the movie? Buñuel: The cockroaches.
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| 1 |  |
feublo | 70 30th |
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Invites quite a grasp on Bunuel's stance as he nit picks at the institutions, cultures and classes. A take on the Bourgeoisie that seems to formulate it's own logic although we know as an audience it is ridiculously satirical. In particular, these dream sequences seem to act as Bunuel's way of testing this bourgeois logic, vulnerability, the shame associated with it's ideals as we see for a short sequence. The growing fear of death becomes important for that matter as well.
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| Average Percentile 71.5% from 2157 Ratings |  |