Luis Buñuel

Directing

Luis Buñuel

Born 1900-02-22 · Calanda, Teruel, Aragón, España

Luis Buñuel Portolés (Spanish: [ˈlwis βuˈɲwel poɾtoˈles]; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel's work was known for its avant-garde surrealism which was also infused with political commentary and social satire. Often associated with the surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel made films from the 1920s through the 1970s. He collaborated with prolific surrealist painter Salvador Dali creating the films Un Chien Andalou (1929), which was made in the silent era and L'Age d'Or (1930). The two films are seen as the birth of Cinematic surrealism. From 1947 to 1960 he developed his skills as a director filming in Mexico making grounded and human melodramas such as Gran Casino (1947), Los Olvidados (1950), and Él (1953). Here is where he gained the fundamentals of storytelling. Buñuel than transitioned into making artful, unconventional, surrealist, and political satirical films. He earned acclaim with the morally complex arthouse drama film Viridiana (1961) which criticized the Francoist dictatorship. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. He then criticized political and social conditions in The Exterminating Angel (1962), and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise (1972) the later of which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. He also directed Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), and Belle de Jour (1967), as well as his final film That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) the later of which earned the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director. Buñuel earned five Cannes Film Festival prizes, two Berlin International Film Festival prizes, and a BAFTA Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. Buñuel received numerous honors including National Prize for Arts and Sciences for Fine Arts in 1977, the Moscow International Film Festival Contribution to Cinema Prize in 1979, and the Career Golden Lion in 1982. He was nominated once for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. Seven of Buñuel's films are included in Sight & Sound's 2012 critics' poll of the top 250 films of all time.

Acting credits

Belle de Jour poster
7.3

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.

Belle de Jour

1967

Discovering Buñuel poster
NR

Luis Bunuel, the father of cinematic Surrealism, made his film debut with 'Un Chien Andalou' in 1929 working closely with Salvador Dali. Considered one of the finest and controversial filmmakers with, 'L’Age d’Or' (1930), attacking the church and the middle classes. He won many awards including Best Director at Cannes for 'Los Olvidados' (1950), and the coveted Palme d’Or for 'Viridiana' (1961), which had been banned in his native Spain. His career moved to France with 'The Diary of a Chambermaid' with major stars such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.

Discovering Buñuel

2012

Un Chien Andalou poster
7.4

Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

Un Chien Andalou

1929

L'Âge d'or poster
6.8

The film consists of a series of tightly interlinked vignettes, the most sustained of which details the story of a man and a woman who are passionately in love. Their attempts to consummate their passion are constantly thwarted, by their families, by the Church and bourgeois society in general.

L'Âge d'or

1930

Buñuel poster
6.0

Completed a year after his death in 1983, this program presents the definitive biography of Spain’s renowned Surrealist film maker and iconoclast, Luis Buñuel. Using photographs, film excerpts, and numerous interviews with Bunuel, the video chronicles his early friendships with Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca, the stormy reactions to many of his groundbreaking films, and the influence he has had on international cinema. Among those interviewed are directors Federico Fellini, John Huston, and Jose L. Saenz De Heredia; Buñuel’s wife, Jeanne Rucar, and son Juan; actor Francisco Rabal; and Octavio Paz.

Buñuel

1984

The Phantom of Liberty poster
7.5

This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

The Phantom of Liberty

1974

The Proud and the Beautiful poster
6.7

Life in a small Mexican village where joy and misery, hope and pain, passion and guilt, love and decay, life and death are mixed in the peasants life and two French citizens who end up stranded in there, during a typhoid epidemic.

The Proud and the Beautiful

1953

The Milky Way poster
7.1

Two men, part tramp, part pilgrim, are on their way from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. On their way, they meet a vast assortment of characters—some truculent, some violent, and some bizarre; they experience many adventures—some mysterious, some erotic, some even supernatural.

The Milky Way

1969

Montparnasse poster
6.4

Come take an avant-garde walk in the Montparnasse of the late 1920's. This district of Paris, filmed in a most unusual way, shows how dedicated it is to art. Visit its art galleries and exhibitions, take a glimpse of famous painter Fujita, of Luis Buñuel eyeing the legs of beautiful Parisian passing the terrace of the café where he sits, of Italian futurists Marinetti, Prampolini and Russolo.

Montparnasse

1929

The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel poster
7.0

Made a year after Luis Buñuel's death in 1983 this is an illuminating portrait of the surreal and visionary director, featuring clips, archival interviews, and commentary from scholars and contemporaries including Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, and Jeanne Moreau. Directed by Anthony Wall with readings from Buñuel's autobiography by Paul Scofield. Six trims to meet copyright restrictions.

The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel

1984

Buñuel in Hollywood poster
8.0

This documentary traces the relationship of Buñuel with American culture and Hollywood. The program proposes a chronological journey through the Aragonese filmmaker stays in the U.S., the characters he met, the films he made and he could never do. The program also includes new material-unpublished until 2012 - the Aragonese director filmed in the U.S. in the early 1940s and where he can be seen playing one of their children or enjoying a short holiday in a cottage.

Buñuel in Hollywood

2000

Mauprat poster
6.5

Romantic novelist George Sand's Mauprat as adapted by cinema visionary Jean Epstein. As a child, orphan Bernard de Mauprat was adopted by Tristan, a brigand who brought him up with his biological sons to hate, kill and pillage. Hubert de Mauprat, the elder brother of Tristan, the very incarnation of nobility, and his daughter, the beautiful and intrepid Edmée, undertake to tear wild-eyed Bernard away from his uncle. Still uncouth and rough, Bernard endeavors to wrest the love of Edmée away from her betrothed.

Mauprat

1926

The Incredible Mr. Piccoli poster
6.5

A captivating portrait of French actor Michel Piccoli, who has worked with the greatest filmmakers of his time and has built a dazzling career of remarkable merit and success, focusing on his work during the 1970s and his professional relationship with Claude Sautet, Romy Schneider, Marco Ferreri and Luis Buñuel.

The Incredible Mr. Piccoli

2017

Deneuve, la reine Catherine poster
7.6

She is said to be cold, secretive and mysterious. She has the reputation of not letting anything of her intimate thoughts, her private life, her joys as well as her torments show through. She managed to protect her family, her loves, her choices from the curiosity of magazines and her public. A tour de force for a sixty year long career with more than one hundred and thirty films shot with the greatest filmmakers in the world. However, the raw material for a very personal account of Catherine Deneuve exists: it can be found in the interviews given by the actress from her beginnings until today. They allow us to discover another Catherine Deneuve.

Deneuve, la reine Catherine

2022

Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit poster
7.0

An account of the life of actress Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017), a true icon of the New Wave and one of the most idolized French movie stars.

Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit

2018

Speaking of Buñuel poster
6.0

Surrealist master Luis Buñuel is a towering figure in the world of cinema history, directing such groundbreaking works as Un Chien Andalou, Exterminating Angels, and That Obscure Object of Desire, yet his personal life was clouded in myth and paradox. Though sexually diffident, he frequently worked in the erotic drama genre; though personally quite conservative, his films are florid, flamboyant, and utterly bizarre.

Speaking of Buñuel

2000

Weeping for a Bandit poster
5.8

José María "El Tempranillo" fleeing from justice, takes refuge in Sierra Morena. After a period of hard learning, he becomes the leader of a group of bandits.

Weeping for a Bandit

1964

Fall of a Body poster
5.7

The body of a young woman falls on the terrace of Martha, who intrigued, meets her neighbor. In contact with this strange man, she learns to have a different look about her own life and her marital problems.

Fall of a Body

1973

There Are No Thieves in This Village poster
5.9

When a young boy steals billiard balls from a local saloon, a stranger is charged with the crime. The local layabouts find there is no reason to hang out at the bar without being able to shoot pool, and the boy entertains thoughts of forming a gang to steal more billiard balls in hopes of making money.

There Are No Thieves in This Village

1965

No artwork available
5.0

A surreal film about surrealism.

tvSSFBM EHKL

2001

Carmen poster
6.2

Feyder's scenario very closely follows Don José's own account of his story and his fatal relation with the gypsy Carmen in the third chapter of Mérimée's short novel.

Carmen

1926

A Mexican Buñuel poster
6.0

A documentary covering the years Luis Buñuel spent in Mexico making films.

A Mexican Buñuel

1997

The Castaway on the Street of Providence poster
8.0

Friends of Luis Buñuel discuss the director while Buñuel mixes drinks and entertains friends in his home.

The Castaway on the Street of Providence

1971

Paco, mi padre poster
9.0

Benito Rabal takes us on a journey through his memories to bring us closer to the endearing figure of the actor Paco Rabal, his father. Through interviews, voiceovers, reenactments, and family photographs and films, we discover the humble origins and undeniable career of one of the most important actors in the history of Spanish cinema.

Paco, mi padre

1992

Behind the camera

Belle de Jour poster
7.3

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.

Belle de Jour

1967

Belle de Jour poster
7.3

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.

Belle de Jour

1967

The Young One poster
7.0

A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

The Young One

1960

The Young One poster
7.0

A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

The Young One

1960

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie poster
7.5

In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

1972

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie poster
7.5

In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

1972

Un Chien Andalou poster
7.4

Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

Un Chien Andalou

1929

Un Chien Andalou poster
7.4

Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

Un Chien Andalou

1929

Un Chien Andalou poster
7.4

Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

Un Chien Andalou

1929

That Obscure Object of Desire poster
7.5

After dumping a bucket of water on a beautiful young woman from the window of a train car, wealthy Frenchman Mathieu, regales his fellow passengers with the story of the dysfunctional relationship between himself and the young woman in question, a fiery 19-year-old flamenco dancer named Conchita. What follows is a tale of cruelty, depravity and lies -- the very building blocks of love.

That Obscure Object of Desire

1977

That Obscure Object of Desire poster
7.5

After dumping a bucket of water on a beautiful young woman from the window of a train car, wealthy Frenchman Mathieu, regales his fellow passengers with the story of the dysfunctional relationship between himself and the young woman in question, a fiery 19-year-old flamenco dancer named Conchita. What follows is a tale of cruelty, depravity and lies -- the very building blocks of love.

That Obscure Object of Desire

1977

Diary of a Chambermaid poster
7.1

Celestine has a new job as a chambermaid for the quirky M. Monteil, his wife and her father. When the father dies, Celestine decides to quit her job and leave, but when a young girl is raped and murdered, Celestine believes that the Monteils' groundskeeper, Joseph, is guilty, and stays on in order to prove it. She uses her sexuality and the promise of marriage to get Joseph to confess -- but things do not go as planned.

Diary of a Chambermaid

1964

Diary of a Chambermaid poster
7.1

Celestine has a new job as a chambermaid for the quirky M. Monteil, his wife and her father. When the father dies, Celestine decides to quit her job and leave, but when a young girl is raped and murdered, Celestine believes that the Monteils' groundskeeper, Joseph, is guilty, and stays on in order to prove it. She uses her sexuality and the promise of marriage to get Joseph to confess -- but things do not go as planned.

Diary of a Chambermaid

1964

L'Âge d'or poster
6.8

The film consists of a series of tightly interlinked vignettes, the most sustained of which details the story of a man and a woman who are passionately in love. Their attempts to consummate their passion are constantly thwarted, by their families, by the Church and bourgeois society in general.

L'Âge d'or

1930

L'Âge d'or poster
6.8

The film consists of a series of tightly interlinked vignettes, the most sustained of which details the story of a man and a woman who are passionately in love. Their attempts to consummate their passion are constantly thwarted, by their families, by the Church and bourgeois society in general.

L'Âge d'or

1930

The Brute poster
7.0

A tough young man, who helps to kick poor people out of their houses, falls in love with a girl. She lives with her father in the building about to be demolished.

The Brute

1953

The Brute poster
7.0

A tough young man, who helps to kick poor people out of their houses, falls in love with a girl. She lives with her father in the building about to be demolished.

The Brute

1953

The Young and the Damned poster
8.1

A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.

The Young and the Damned

1950

The Young and the Damned poster
8.1

A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.

The Young and the Damned

1950

The Phantom of Liberty poster
7.5

This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

The Phantom of Liberty

1974

The Phantom of Liberty poster
7.5

This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

The Phantom of Liberty

1974

Wuthering Heights poster
6.2

In 19th-century Mexico, young orphan Alejandro is adopted by the wealthy, landowning Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Catalina. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Catalina, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Eduardo, a man of means who befits her stature. Alejandro vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

1954

The Exterminating Angel poster
7.9

After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves unable to depart... and, over the next few days, all of their elaborate societal pretenses and façades deteriorate as they are reduced to living like animals.

The Exterminating Angel

1962

The Exterminating Angel poster
7.9

After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves unable to depart... and, over the next few days, all of their elaborate societal pretenses and façades deteriorate as they are reduced to living like animals.

The Exterminating Angel

1962