El ángel exterminador
Mexiko 1962, 95 min.
Director: Luis Buñuel
Producer: Gustavo Alatriste (pro Unici Films 59)
Screenwriters: Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza
Director of Photography: Gabriel Figueroa
Music: úryvky ze Scarlattiho, z různých Te Deum a z Paridisiho sonáty
Cast: Silvia Pinalová, Enrique Rambal, Lucy Gallardová, Jacqueline Anderecová,
José Baviere, Augusto Benedico, Luis Beristain ad.
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From the very beginning The Exterminating Angel is pervaded by absurdity and
absence of logic. Servants running away from the opulently decadent manor, a bear and a
flock of sheep wandering inside the house, guests entering the house twice exactly the
same way. The dialogue full of undisguised cynicism shows the discreet depravity of the
bourgeoisie. One of the ladies is accused of being perverse because of her alleged
virginity. Another, having been consoled by a doctor, is then mischievously told that
"she´ll be bold in 6 months".
After dinner all the guests stay in one room and nobody feels like leaving. The
threshold becomes an invisible barrier that cannot be stepped over. None of the guests
is willing to "be the first one", none of them is strong enough to bear the
responsibility. This perfectly irrational paradox is reminiscent of Franz Kafka´s work.
His individual characters accept their fate, they are unable to revolt against it and
find their own self. The characters in The Exterminating Angel remind one of the
man from the parable of the doorman (The Trial) who spends all his life standing in
front of the gate of the law that exists only for him personally. In Buñuel´s case,
Kafka´s essential motif of (individual) guilt may be seen in different context, that of
social criticism.
All characters belong to the upper class (except for the servant, who is portrayed as
merely "contaminated"). The relationships between aristocrats are lacking in humanity,
and aristocracy as a whole seems rotten. No fascinating individual hero appears in the
film, the whole group acts as a collective crowd of people who are slightly different
but in the end all equally perverted . If the Kafkaesque motive of guilt can be applied
to The Exterminating Angel, then it is in the sense of collective guilt. In the
ingeniously revealing epilogue, the selfish and cynical aristocracy is joined by the
Holy Church and even by the whole of mankind. The film ends on an almost nihilistic
note - man is no longer able to step over the threshold of his own depravity.
Deliverance can only be reached by cyclical repetition of well-tried behaviour patterns
(in reality not valid, off course) or through the sacrifice of the flock of sheep,
symbolizing Christian purity.
In its form, The Exterminating Angel is close to the disaster movie genre - a
group of people imprisoned within a confined space and with no chance of rescue. The
permanent feeling of danger, growing mutual hostility, creeping insanity, hatred and
rage - all these are present in the extreme situation in which the characters of the
film find themselves. As spectators we progressively forget about the complete absurdity
of the imprisonment ("imprisonment"), about the fact that it´s the characters
themselves who made the room become a prison. The dread of what is outside the room and
the fear of being the first (to leave) materialize at the threshold and intensify as
time passes. "What would you say if I pushed you outside?" - "I´d kill you." The loss
of will and courage is absolute...
"I sometimes regretted having filmed The Exterminating Angel in Mexico. I
imagined it rather in Paris or London, with a certain luxury of clothing and
accessories. " L.B.
"In my life I have always been attracted to things which repeat themselves. I don´t
know why, I´m not trying to explain it. In The Exterminating Angel there are
about ten instances of repetition." (L.B.)
"Luis, the shot in which they go into the house is there twice! (the surprised
cameraman Gabriel Figueroa)
"The film is about a group of people who cannot do what they want: get out of a room.
The inexplainable impossibility of satisfying a simple desire." (L.B.)
"You may find The Exterminating Angel unclear or inappropriate, but so is life.
In the film some things are repeated, just as in life, and they can be interpreted in
different ways, just as life. The author declares that he didn´t mean to juggle with
symbols, at least not deliberately. The best explanation of The Exterminating Angel
might be that there actually isn´t any rational explanation." (L.B.)
Plus:
Naturally, the title of the film isn´t original - it is taken from the biblical Apocalypse
The motive of shipwreck was inspired by Géricault´s painting ... Another source of
inspiration was probably the classical Robinson Crusoe, shot by L.B. in 1952 in Mexico.
The film may have remotely inspired the Czech director Jan Němec - in his film
O slavnosti a hostech (About a celebration and guests) the guests find
themselves participating in an absurd game which none of them is able to understand
other texts related to the film:
Milo Henkrich: Anděl a pes Luise Buñuela
(o podobnosti mezi Andaluským psem a Andělem zkázy) - Luis Buñuel´s angel and dog
(about the resemblance between The Andalusian Dog and The Exterminating Angel) - only Czech!
[ translation: Sabina Poláková and Vítězslav Petr ]
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