L'Age d'Or (1930)

 Luis Bunuel's "L'Age d'Or"

After the bizarre absurdity of "Un Chien Andalou," I was expecting something of a similar vein with Luis Bunuel's follow-up, "L'Age d'Or." This was certainly the case, however, I found "Un Chien Andalou" to be a far more effective experience. Don't get me wrong, "L'Age d'Or" certainly has its fill of absurdism and blatant mockery. This mockery is of both the artform itself, as well as a mockery of the bourgeoise class and the Catholic Church. That being said, "L'Age d'Or" seems to only be the little brother of the two films. 

Unlike "Un Chien Andalou," there seems to be some sort of coherent story taking place. Despite bizarre vignettes like the opening documentary about scorpions and the final vignette about a Jesus-resembled figure who emerges from a castle after 120 days of depraved orgies, the main 'story' is about a man and a woman who attempt to have sexual relations throughout the film but are continuously interrupted by various happenings. This would continue to be a common trope in Bunuel's filmography, as many of his stories involve characters continuously unable to complete a simple task. The various interruptions all seem to be allegorically critical of bourgeois and religious values. Throughout the film, I was continuously reflecting on the absurdity of class and religious 'values' and how they're hinderances to natural human impulses. Despite all of the out-of-the-box surrealist things happening in the film, it was the snotty upper-class and religious members who seemed even more absurd in their practices and viewpoints.

The criticism to the bourgeoise and religion came from the dissatisfaction of "Un Chien Andalou" not receiving the hostile reaction that Bunuel was hoping for. After the success of "Un Chien Andalou," Bunuel was hired by a wealthy couple, Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, to make a sequel. After the total smearing of French upper-class ideals, the de Noailles learned they had been expelled from the Jockey Club of Paris for financing such a film. After the cold reception and its ban by the Prefecture Police of Paris, they withdrew the film from circulation. 

Despite Salvador Dali being involved in the writing of the film, he was not involved in its production. This was largely due to the falling out between him and Bunuel. Dali's contributions to the script involved the anti-Catholic aspects, while Bunuel largely wrote the anti-bourgeios segments. Dali was rubbed the wrong way by the anti-bourgeois sentiments, due to his support for then Spanish fascist Francisco Franco and the various figures of the European aristocracy. The two partners had reached a boiling point and decided to split apart to focus on their own interests. 

The film was so negatively received that it provoked attacks by the right-wing League of Patriots, who interrupted screenings by throwing ink at the cinema screen and assault viewers in the audience. Many journalists called the film repugnant and repulsive, and believed the film was nothing more than smear piece - not to even be considered 'art' in any way. The film was withdrawn from commercial distribution for more than forty years. In November of 1979, the film finally had its first re-release at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco. 

When compared with its predecessor, "Un Chien Andalou," "L'Age d'Or" seems like a little brother. However, on its own merit, "L'Age d'Or" is still a great piece of art and cinema. Its anarchic spirit rubbed all the right people the wrong way and continue to demonstrate the levels of absurdity and rebellion a film could contain. Film critic Robert Short was able to distill this surrealist concoction into its most basic thematic point by illustrating that the scalp-decorated crucifix and the scenes of socially repressive violence, wherein the love-struck protagonist is manhandled by two men, indicate that the social and psychological repression of the libido and of romantic passion and emotion, by the sexual mores of bourgeois society and by the value system of the Roman Catholic Church, breed violence in the relations among people, and violence by men against women.