"The Exterminating Angel" (El ángel exterminador) by Luis Buñuel, Mexico 1962 - Dramatic 95' - b/w
"Is 'The Exterminating Angel' a parable of the human condition?"
Luis Buñuel: "About the bourgeois condition, rather.
Among workers, it wouldn't be the same; there would certainly be a solution to being trapped.
For example, in a working-class neighborhood, a man baptizes his daughter, invites 50 friends for a party, and in the end, they cannot leave...
I believe they would somehow find an exit.
Why?
Because a worker is more accustomed to the concrete difficulties of life."
"The Exterminating Angel," a title Buñuel borrowed from a friend who was writing a play and who, in turn, had taken it from the Bible (Revelation), was initially supposed to be called "Los naufragos de la calle de la Providencia."
Probably, this is the most explicit work of the Spanish director.
A film "without meanings," as an opening caption in some editions (French and Italian) reiterates, Buñuel states, "If the film you are about to see seems enigmatic or incongruous to you, life is too.
It is repetitive like life and, like it, subject to many interpretations."
Buñuel claims he did not intend to play on any symbols, at least not consciously.
Perhaps the best explanation for "The Exterminating Angel" is that there is none.
"Sometimes I regret having shot 'The Exterminating Angel' in Mexico," says Buñuel, "I would have imagined it better in Paris or London, with European actors and a certain luxury in the costumes and accessories.
In Mexico City, despite the beauty of the house, despite all my efforts to choose actors who did not resemble just Mexico, I had to face a certain misery in terms of quality.
Showcasing just a napkin, for example, which then belonged to the makeup artist who lent it to me.
In life as in films, I have always been drawn to things that repeat.
I don't know why and I don't try to explain it.
In 'The Exterminating Angel,' there are at least a dozen repetitions.
For example, two men whom someone introduces to each other, and they shake hands saying, 'Very happy.'
A moment later they meet again and introduce themselves as if they didn't know each other at all.
A third time they finally greet each other warmly like two old friends.
On two occasions, but from a different angle, the guests are seen entering the foyer while the host calls the butler.
After the editing, Gabriel Figueroa (the chief operator and photographer) took me aside and said: 'Louis, something serious has happened.'
'What?'
'The sequence of when they enter the house has been edited twice.'
How could he have thought, even for a moment, he who had filmed both sequences, that such a blunder could have escaped the editor and me?
"The Exterminating Angel" is one.
