Before I Die #619: L'Age d'Or (1930)

This is the 619th movie which I've now seen out of the 1,199 movies on the "Before You Die" list that I'm gradually working my way through. 

"The Man" and "The Woman" - the archetypes who are mostly
at the center of this surreal film. This abandoned sucking of
each other's fingers is one of their many odd  and oft-
thwarted attempts at  finding sexual pleasure with each other

English Title: The Golden Age

Director: Luis Bunuel

Not long ago, I watched and reviewed the short silent film Un Chien Andelou, which was the work of the dynamically surreal dual minds of Spanish artists Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. It was every bit as challenging, bizarre, and unique as one would imagine. Well, a couple of years after that seminal piece of work, Dali and Bunuel collaborated again on L'Age d'Or, a longer film but one that still illustrates their hallucinogenic sensibilities.

Offering a summary of the movie is a tricky affair, given that it doesn't follow a traditional narrative structure. In general, though, it often follows a man and woman who are in love, or at least lust, and are constantly attempting to unite. To do so, they are often fighting against those who would keep them apart for various reasons - it may be a few police officers arresting one of them for unclear causes; it may be one's family and social circle placing demands upon their attentions; or it may be a government organization urging one of them to focus on a vague "mission" rather than individual desires. Details are never really given on any of these interactions, but the details are clearly not the point. In the end, the man is seen hurtling various objects out of a bedroom window, including pillow feathers, a burning tree, and religious icons. The entire story of the man and woman are bookended by first documentary footage on the behavior of scorpions, and in the end by an adapted depiction of the end of the Marquise de Saad's infamous novel 120 Days of Sodom.

I will admit that I wondered how well this film would be able to hold my attention for its 62-minute running time. Bunuel's and Dali's previous film, Un Chien Andelou, despite being only 28 minutes, was almost too mind-blowing and strange for me to maintain the intense focus it demands. In fact, L'Age d'Or is not quite as demanding, though it's certainly a challenging film. The fact that it does have a more accessible position as being anti-clerical and a reaction to right-wing, conservative values does make its through-line easier to follow. Of course, this is not to say that I was able to make heads or tails of every surreal image or sequence. Far from it. However, I was in the right state of mind to do some of the mental gymnastics required by such a movie.

An image early in the film of dead and decrepit leaders of the
Catholic church. This certainly implies the strong anti-Catholic
and anti-establishment message that Bunuel espoused. It also
got Catholics extremely angry, as one would imagine.

While the themes and strange narrative are obviously what set this movie apart, it is worth mentioning that the technical aspects of the movie are strong. Bunuel, who was barely 30 years old when he directed this film, already showed mastery of cinematic technique to convey his visions. As he had shown in Un Chien Andelou, he was completely at ease using overlap dissolve, an array of camera angles, fade outs, and all other sorts of film trickery to suggest narrative or thematic connections. Lovers of technique would likely enjoy the exercise of breaking down just what Bunuel was doing from scene to scene here.

For anyone considering this film, I would recommend taking the time for a second viewing with the audio commentary by Robert Short. Aside from an amusingly arrogant English accent, he offers some nice insight into the odder elements and unusual structure of the movie. He also offers some invaluable historical context about the time and place of the film's release, as well as its consequences for Bunuel. I don't often do audio commentaries, but for such an atypical movie, it can offer a nice education on the creators' visions and motivations.

That's 619 movies down. Only 580 to go before I can die.