PodBill
Just what I expected
Invaderbank
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
gavin6942
One of Luis Bunuel's most free-form and purely Surrealist films, consisting of a series of only vaguely related episodes - most famously, the dinner party scene where people sit on lavatories round a dinner table on, occasionally retiring to a little room to eat.Luis Bunuel said, "Chance governs all things; necessity, which is far from having the same purity, comes only later. If I have a soft spot for any one of my movies, it would be for The Phantom of Liberty, because it tries to work out just this theme." I know I am in the minority, but I do not quite see the appeal of Bunuel's later films. I love his early work, such as "Age d'Or" and "un Chien Andalou", but the later more political films... I do not necessary appreciate them. This one and its partner, "Discreet Charm", I just cannot identify with... maybe a second viewing?
Scott44
***User-reviewer Claudio Carvalho ("A Delicious Surrealistic Satire to the Moral and Costumes of the Society, to the Family and to the Church", Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 5 May 2005) has interesting comments. Also, Hasosch ("The Dissolution of Form and Function", hasosch from United States, 19 July 2007) takes a stab at interpreting it.***"Phantom Liberty (1974, Luis Buñuel)," a surreal comment on the ruling class, is a curious, occasionally very disturbing work arranged with quality. Seemingly a nearly random series of absurd and/or awkward moments, it makes much more sense when one does not seek a linear narrative. Some cinema scholars have noted the connections it makes with the work of Italy's Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was at the time a contemporary of Buñuel's in film surrealism. (Buñuel has a character named Doctor Pasolini. Unfortunately for art house cinema fans, the highly provocative Pasolini was tragically murdered in 1975.) "Phantom Liberty" contains some ideas which can be enjoyed by many people. One of the most popular moments is when concerned parents seek help from French authorities for their missing daughter, while she is sitting nearby (and the adults all interact with her). Also, a poet-turned-sniper, initially witnessed inside a tower committing a horrific massacre of unsuspecting, random adults at street level, is subsequently tried in a formal court of law. Once the sentence of death has been delivered with stern finality by the judge, the poet-sniper is promptly freed, congratulated and treated like a major celebrity.There are also scenes that are consciously disturbing. We open with French troops executing Spanish civilians in 1808. (One of the victims is Buñuel.) Later, a young nephew seeks to fulfill his sexual urges with his considerably older, virginal Aunt. There is also the justifiably famous scene where a ruling class family meet at a large table not to dine, but to sit on and use toilets. The actors play this singularly bizarre moment straight, as if they were appearing in a mainstream movie. Some religious people will also likely find offensive the way a group of middle-aged monks relax in the evening. First, they meet to pray with an attractive woman (of the same age) in her bedroom. Later, the monks and the woman are observed playing poker like card sharks, smoking like chimneys and calling some cards "virgins." The partying monks will conclude their evening by witnessing an S & M session.Speaking of the latter, Italian siren Adriana Asti appears in two especially erotic scenes. We see her early on as a stunning, head- turning dominatrix. Later, she is a pianist performing a Brahms piano concerto liberated from the confines of all her clothing. (Warning: Please don't drive or operate heavy machinery while watching Asti seemingly tickling the ivories in her birthday suit.) Buñuel uses the naked pianist at the right time to keep the viewer interested. If one wishes to make sense of the chaotic narrative, try applying the visuals of a scene with the dialogue of the scene that follows. Doing so takes some effort, but the payoff is uncovering Buñuel's true nature, which is far more conservative than he is generally perceived.At the film's conclusion, the French police commissioner--played by two actors simultaneously—is considering a brutal military assault on the general public watching animals at the local zoo. Throughout, Buñuel seems to be drawing comparisons between the ruling class and the animals in captivity. This idea lends some explanation for the family on toilets scene and the other scatological moments. Buñuel is narrowing the gap between humans and animals in defiance of the behavioral norms that most people associate with an evolved species. While not for everyone, "Phantom Liberty" should be seen by cinephiles who understand surrealism often comments on life more directly than traditional narratives do. While it seems perfectly mad to many, Buñuel's effort here is just as not much more insane than the news horror story we are being exposed to daily.
mmorataya131
What's wrong is wrong and what's right is right, no? No. Not in Buñuel's surrealist outlook of society. His in your face attitude over subject matters such as incest, religion, and all around things that would be labeled as taboos leave you squirming in discomfort. As uncomfortable as you might feel and as strange as it all may seem, Buñuel puts you in that position for a reason. Why is it wrong for a nephew to love his much older aunt? Why is this man being treated like a celebrity and given freedom when he has gun down innocents? Why was the head of the police losing his mind and why was he still allowed to make decisions? He makes you place your moral conventions front and center and question everything you've ever been taught. Buñuel asks "What would the world be with total freedom?" Would it be like this?What's right is wrong and what's wrong is right
urieljimenez_93
The Phantom of Liberty movie show to me how important surrealism is in order to make a movie successful. It really made me feel that I was leaving it while it was been played, but also it goes beyond reality because in the scenes what the characters where doing was something unexpected, weird, not normal, or perhaps disrespectful if someone sees it that way. Moreover, we're not used to lived that way. We see the world differently and we manage personal y private things differently. In fact what really catch my attention was the scene where they all sit together to "eat". It wasn't really like that, it was the opposite, they suppose to eat instead of doing their needs. That really make laugh in a way because I can't imagine myself doing that. In other hand, The phantom of Liberty was really a piece of art even thought it got me kind of confuse. This is a film where you can start asking question to yourself and building all this thoughts and ideas. This is where you can see a real director, art and high level of thinking of Buñuel.
