‘Charm’ Revives Schemes of Bun~uel

To celebrate the centennial of the birth of the great Spanish iconoclast Luis Bun~uel, Rialto Pictures is releasing a freshly restored, newly subtitled “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972), which won a best foreign film Oscar. Far from seeming dated, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” seems timelier than ever, downright prophetic, for that matter.

In his final return to Europe, after a 15-year exile in Mexico, Bun~uel (1900-1983) made six films between ’67 and ’77 remarkable for their lightness of touch in revealing all manner of human perversity and hypocrisy. A sympathetic and fearless producer, Serge Silberman, and one of the cinema’s most accomplished and versatile screenwriters, Jean-Claude Carriere, enabled Bun~uel to bring an often difficult and always controversial career to a finish with a grand flourish.

Indeed, it was an incident in Silberman’s life--he invited a group of people for dinner, forgetting he had done so and also forgetting to tell his wife--that provided the inspiration for the film, in which a group of well-off types think nothing of committing all manner of outrage and skulduggery behind a facade of highly polished manners displayed in an unending round of highly ritualized social gatherings.

Their keen observance of the social niceties has a decided--and dangerous--tendency to cut themselves off from both their emotions and the real world. That Bun~uel proceeds effortlessly, even jauntily, gliding back and forth into the surreal world of their dreams, makes his people and their behavior at once all the more amusing and chilling. By the end of his life Bun~uel had become so used to accepting the fundamental absurdities of human nature he could present its darkest consequences with a highly effective nonchalance.

In essence the film is a series of mishaps that gets underway when guests descend upon the charming country estate of the attractive and poised Henri and Alice Senechal (Jean-Pierre Cassel and Stephane Audran)--only they arrive a day earlier than expected. The guests are Rafael Acosta (Fernando Rey), the suave ambassador of the fictional banana republic of Miranda; the Thevenots, Francois (Paul Frankeur) and his considerably younger wife, Simone (Delphine Seyrig); and Simone’s hard-drinking sister Florence (Bulle Ogier).

This group--soon to be joined by a priest, Monsignor Dufour (Julien Bertheau), who confoundingly convinces the Senechals to take him on as a gardener and houseman--is constantly dining together, either at posh restaurants or at one another’s well-appointed homes. Gourmands to the core, they are forever displaying their mastery at small talk, with the exception of Florence, who drinks too heavily to maintain any semblance of propriety.

The women may not know--and might not care if they did--but Acosta makes full use of his diplomatic immunity to smuggle heroin into France via diplomatic pouch, where Thevenot and Senechal, his secret business partners, share in the clearly considerable profits of their enterprise. In the meantime, Simone and Acosta carry on an affair--schedules and opportunities permitting.

At any moment, Bun~uel may complicate matters deliriously by dropping us without warning into his people’s dreams. As silky an existence as the criminal trio enjoy, they are scarcely invulnerable to paranoia yet are indifferent in regard to the nature of their enterprise.

What a splendid ensemble Bun~uel has at his disposal. It is dominated by Rey, as the representative of a brutal totalitarian regime, and by Audran, as an obtuse and shallow woman who seems to be utterly sincere in her artificiality. Nothing much dents these haute bourgeoises, even the most darkly comic bizarre occurrences--until Bun~uel at last pulls the rug out from under them with a flawless sleight of hand. No doubt he would say they did it to themselves.

* MPAA rating: PG. Times guidelines: complex adult themes and situations, some violence and sensuality.

‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie’ (‘Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie’)

Fernando Rey: Rafael Acosta,

the ambassador

Jean-Pierre Cassel: Henri Senechal

Stephane Audran: Alice Senechal

Paul Frankeur: Francois Thevenot

Delphine Seyrig: Simone Thevenot

Bulle Ogier: Florence

Julien Bertheau: Monsignor Dufour

A Rialto Pictures release of a Greenwich Film production with Jet Film (Barcelona) and Dear Film (Rome). Director Luis Bun~uel. Producer Serge Silberman. Screenplay by Bun~uel and Jean-Claude Carriere. Cinematographer Edmond Richard. Editor Helene Plemiannikov. Costumes Jacquline Guyot. Art director Pierre Guffroy. Restored by Michel Rocher and Brigitte Dutray of Canal Plus Image. In French, with new English subtitles by Lenny Borger. Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes.

At selected theaters.