The Exterminating Angel (1962): Uncivilized Society

Luis Buñuel is considered one of the greatest, most iconoclastic of filmmakers. He is often referred to as as a surrealist. The creator (along with his friend Salvador Dali) of the classic short Le Chien Andalou [The Andalusian Dog](1929) certainly could do surrealism.  But, on the evidence of a couple of his ‘middle period’ films, Viridiana (1961) and Exterminating Angel (1962), my impression is that the surrealistic impulse was significantly muted thirty years on – or perhaps I should say it had greatly matured. Buñuel’s approach in these later movies was more as a satirist, humorist and social critic.

Labels are probably irrelevant. Buñuel’s  films have a distinctive sensibility, a slightly (or not so slightly) off-kilter perspective that sucks the viewer into a re-ordered reality, which then acts as a commentary on aspects of our accepted reality. His especial focus was mocking the superficialities of the ruling bourgeois class and middle class society, and pointing out the hypocrisy and irrelevance of religions and the religious, particularly the Catholic church.

The Exterminating Angel was on Woody Allen’s mind when, in 2011’s Midnight In Paris, he has Owen Wilson’s character, Gil, suggest a movie idea to a young Luis Buñuel: "A bunch of people come to a dinner party but when they try to leave … they can’t.” Buñuel responds,  “I don’t get it. Why can’t they leave?”  Gil’s suggestion pretty much sums up the plot of Exterminating Angel, and you’ll ask the same question as you watch this picture.  But why the elegant party guests can’t leave the room isn’t the point, although the mystery certainly makes for an intriguing situation. How these people react to their bizarre dilemma is what's important to Buñuel, and what makes The Exterminating Angel so interesting.

Most of the events depicted in this motion picture take place in a Mexico City mansion. As the dinner party is about to get underway, but before most of the guests arrive, virtually all of the household staff leave the premises. No explanation is given for this exodus, and indeed, the servants themselves do not seem to understand what motivates their actions. In retrospect, it seems clear that Bunuel's intent is to give the working class a pass on the proctological exam he intends to administer to their "betters".

The hosts and their guests are returning from an evening at the opera. This is a very well-heeled, high society crowd, the men in tuxes for the most part, and the women bedecked with furs, jewelry, and evening gowns.  The group consists of academics, physicians, artists and businessmen, and their spouses.  They all seem to know each other to a greater or lesser extent. When no servant appears to greet them, take their coats, etc., there is surprise and a moment of awkwardness at this lapse, yet they mind their manners and carry on, enduring further eyebrow-raising lapses during dinner, eventually retiring to the music room, for after-dinner smokes and a brief recital.

When the party winds down, and it is time to leave, the guests hesitate. Lame excuses are made, but no one actually goes. The hosts, as you might imagine, are annoyed and appalled.  This is quite a breach of protocol! The men eventually remove their jackets, then their ties; the ladies rearrange their shawls and loosen their clothing, and pretty soon everyone is sacked out on the couches and on the floor.

By the next morning, everyone realizes that they are stuck in this room. This is a somewhat Kafkaesque moment. There is great distress, but they have no understanding, and surprisingly little inquiry as to why or how this situation has come about. It just is. And here is where things get interesting. Pretty quickly, things begin to degenerate. Politeness and decorum are the first to go. Petty quarrels break out.  There is theft, drug use, and a general breakdown of morality.  People become physically ill, one has a nervous breakdown, a couple commits suicide. Voices of reason give way to mob rule, and threats of sacrificial murder. Within 24 hours the supposed superior class is reduced to a group of hungry and whiny primitives, for whom the world has become mysterious and hopeless.

 

Buñuel eventually offers this debased crowd a way out – a nonsensical contrivance to be sure; but somehow it lifts the curse or spell or whatever it was, and the raggedy survivors leave. Soon after, they and their families and other members of the community are in church giving thanks for their deliverance, when strange things start to happen again …

Okay, so the story is bizarre; but it actually works. It works in part because Bunuel is an inventive writer/director. The situations develop slowly enough, and they are  plausible enough (once you accept the initial premise) and interesting enough to hold our interest. The characters seem alive. They are realistic enough so that we can identify with them and their predicament, at least for a while. And much of this is amusing. There are visual puns, a roving hand, and even pratfalls. There are goats and a bear wandering through the elegant rooms (what?). The camera moves through thew space freely, giving the narration multiple perspectives. And we get to enjoy large doses of Schadenfreude.

My wife and I watched The Exterminating Angel with another couple, and when it was over, we all agreed that it was interesting, and we liked it, but we were all unsure what it was "about". This led to a somewhat spirited discussion, with mixed results. It was hard to see the forest for the trees.

Part of what was elusive in the moment was the scope of Buñuel’s vision: he was, I believe, showing us nothing less than the collapse of Western civilization – a civilization built on a class society, where thought has been displaced by status and superstition (religion). Bunuel suggests that the Emperor truly has no clothes – if protocol or custom is disturbed, if, for example, dinner guests do not leave at the expected time, the entire artifice may come tumbling down. There is no underlying justification for the privileged set to be so exalted, or to hold themselves in such high regard.  Why, they can't even extricate themselves from an unlocked room.  And, by the way, where would the so-called elite be without their servants and, in current parlance, without the 99 percent? They'd be helpless and hapless, right? Then again, maybe this isn't just about them rich; maybe its about the rest of us, too?

In any event, this dinner party gone awry provides plenty of food for thought.

The Exterminating Angel is available streaming on Hulu.com, and on DVD via Netflix and at better video stores. Try and get the Criterion edition.

[Le Chien Andalou (1929), Bunuel's first film - all 17 surrealistic minutes – can be seen on YouTube]