Finally got around to watching L'Age d'Or, which sat, collecting dust and dingo hair, next to the TV because neither db nor I had the intellectual wherewithal to tackle it. The grey matter's a little taxed lately. There's a war on, you know. We're rationing. So... L'Age d'Or:
Um, I don't get it. That was our general conclusion after the first viewing. Yes, the anti-church/church hierarchy POV was readily apparent, and we could easily note the thwarting-of-love aspect of the religious meddlers, who turned brutally hypocritical at the end in a nod to the Marquis de Sade. And the banal/transcendent bodily function theme was noted with wrinkled nose. That much we could see. But unless you are schooled in Surrealist film or 1930s French socio-political concerns, I'd suggest watching the film with the commentary on. The commentary by film historian Robert Short was unobtrusive, charming, and highly informative. It was like a film class without the pouty poseurs. I've never listened to the commentary on a film before, so I had no idea what to expect. Still don't. This may not be representative, but if it is for this type of film, I'm ready for more.
The film is a series of disjointed vignettes, from which you can glean some thematic coherence, though, hey, this is Surrealist cinema; you're not supposed to be nodding along, 100% comforted by a recognizable narrative. Ostensibly, the film concerns the plight of two lovers, vibrating with lust for each other, being kept apart by bourgeois elements, revealed to be hypocritical and corrupt, of course. So far so good. The imagery is alternately mind-numbingly odd and baldly provocative, e.g. allusions to women masturbating, a child's murder passing without comment at a high society soiree, a sadist made up to look like Jesus (whoa!). But even with the wonderful commentary, there are many questions left unanswered, and the film is interesting enough to warrant further research. I still don't understand what all the references to "the Majorcans" were about, for example.
The British Film Institute, which has recently released a special-edition DVD boxset with Un Chien Andalou and L'Age d'Or together, describes the film thus:
L'Age d'or is indisputably one of the great collaborations of cinema history, uniting the genius of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí in the making of a Surrealist masterpiece - a uniquely savage blend of visual poetry and social criticism. A sinister and strangely poignant chronicle of a couple's struggles to consummate their frenzied desire in the face of a stream of obstacles from bourgeois society and the Church, the film was banned and vilified for many years, becoming justly legendary for its subversive eroticism and its furious dissection of 'civilised' values.
In the prideful tradition of viewing everything from one's own vantage point, this film had a lot to say for contemporary Murka (that's 'America' to you who do not speak Bushese). As with the Surrealist criticism of a society awash in both religious repression and violent bourgeois excess -- Paris stands for Imperial Rome in the film -- so we have our Imperial version with the punitive theocracy of the Religious Right, as expressed by B*sh Admin. policies, coupled with the crassly sexual output that dominates popular cultural expression ("Desperate Housewives," Maxim magazine, and wardrobe malfunctions, anyone?) and the continuing violence of contemporary American society -- guns everywhere, poverty (this is violence done unto people, surely), waging unilateral war. Anyhoo, interesting and thoughtprovoking film. Two thumbs up. Would that we had Surrealists whose probing work reached the masses today. Maybe we do, what do I know? If anybody knows, drop me a line.
As we are rationing grey matter, I reserve the right to update this post as the mood strikes. I haven't said a word about the scorpions, for instance.
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