The evening guests arrive twice. Once they climb the stairs, step through the wide door. And then again. We'll understand the joke later. Guests who arrive twice are not allowed to leave again. Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel takes a look at human nature and creates a macabre comedy out of it. It goes like this: We are victims of our instincts and our unspeakable secrets. It is enough to imprison a company of exquisite guests and they will attack each other like rats. If you watch well, you will notice the alarming signs. How the cook and the servant put on their jackets and disappear in time. Because it's a Bunuel film, we also have to accept his surrealistic ideas without comment. For example the invitation of a bear. The event itself is a success. The guests whisper, deny themselves; today we would call it bullying. They are full of greed and lust and envy. The doctor predicts that one of the women will be bald within a week. We also listen to piano music and everyone looks very elegant. There's nothing to stop them - only they can't walk. Nobody talks about it. They make themselves comfortable in the sofas. And more and more details are revealed to us by Bunuel, the most individual director of his time. Unusually, he shot his best films between the age of 60 and the end of 70. Bunuel was an opponent of Franco's Spain. He was against the bourgeoisie, against the church and against the fascists. He was convinced that most people were hypocrites. When he staged "The Exterminating Angel" in 1962, his career was on the upswing. He was still filming in exile in Mexico, but would soon move to France. Nevertheless we recognize the ruling class from Franco's Spain in the Dinner society. But that's not what he offers us blatantly. The dinner guests cannot be saved. What inhibits them also inhibits supposed rescuers. One tries to uncover a drinking water pipe with the axe. Two lovers kill each other. A hint of black magic is in the air when the sheep are grilled... Take the test and show The Exterminating Angel to a movie lover. It won't take two minutes and he'll give you the name Bunuel. So unmistakably he works! A work that excludes pure reason; Bunuel himself writes: "The best explanation of this film is that, from the standpoint of pure reason, there is no explanation." Who else would be able to argue something?
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