Un Chien Andalou: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|1929 film}} |
{{short description|1929 film}} |
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{{Citations broken|details=(References 17, 19).|date=September 2023}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} |
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} |
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{{Infobox film |
{{Infobox film |
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| caption = Latter-day French poster |
| caption = Latter-day French poster |
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| director = [[Luis Buñuel]] |
| director = [[Luis Buñuel]] |
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| producer = Luis Buñuel |
| producer = Luis Buñuel |
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| writer = Luis Buñuel<br/>[[Salvador Dalí]] |
| writer = Luis Buñuel<br/>[[Salvador Dalí]] |
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| starring = [[Pierre Batcheff]]<br/>[[Simone Mareuil]]<br/>Luis Buñuel<br/>Salvador Dalí<br/> |
| starring = [[Pierre Batcheff]]<br/>[[Simone Mareuil]]<br/>Luis Buñuel<br/>Salvador Dalí<br/>[[Jaume Miravitlles]]<br/>[[Fano Messan]] (uncredited) |
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| music = [[Richard Wagner]] |
| music = [[Richard Wagner]] |
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| cinematography = Albert Duverger<br/>Jimmy Berliet (uncredited) |
| cinematography = Albert Duverger<br/>Jimmy Berliet (uncredited) |
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| budget = < 100,000 [[franc]]s |
| budget = < 100,000 [[franc]]s |
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}} |
}} |
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''' |
'''{{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}}''' ({{IPA-fr|œ̃ ʃjɛ̃ ɑ̃dalu}}, '''''An Andalusian Dog''''') is a 1929 French [[Silent film|silent]] [[short film]] directed, produced and edited by [[Luis Buñuel]], who also co-wrote the screenplay with [[Salvador Dalí]]. Buñuel's first film, it was initially [[limited release|released in a limited capacity]] at [[Studio des Ursulines]] in Paris, but became popular and ran for eight months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Ca-Chr/Un-Chien-Andalou.html|title=Un Chien Andalou|access-date=8 July 2008}}</ref> |
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{{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}} has no [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] in the conventional sense of the word. With disjointed chronology, jumping from the initial "once upon a time" to "eight years later" without events or characters changing, it uses [[dream analysis|dream logic]] in narrative flow that can be described in terms of the then-popular [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] [[Free association (psychology)|free association]], presenting a series of tenuously related scenes. {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}} is a seminal work in the genre of [[surrealist cinema]]. |
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The film will enter the [[2025 in public domain|US public domain on January 1, 2025]]. |
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==Synopsis== |
==Synopsis== |
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The film opens with a title card reading "Once upon a time". A man (Luis Buñuel) sharpens his razor at his balcony door and tests the razor on his thumb. He then opens the door, and idly fingers the razor while gazing at the |
The film opens with a title card reading "Once upon a time". A man (Luis Buñuel) sharpens his razor at his balcony door and tests the razor on his thumb. He then opens the door, and idly fingers the razor while gazing at the Moon, about to be bisected by a thin cloud, from his balcony. There is a cut to a close-up of a young woman ([[Simone Mareuil]]) being held by the man. She calmly stares straight ahead as he brings the razor near her eye. Another cut occurs to the cloud passing in front of the Moon, then a cut to a close up of a hand slitting the eye of an animal with the razor (which happens so quickly the viewer may believe it was the woman's eye), and the [[Vitreous body|vitreous humour]] spills out from it. |
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The subsequent title card reads "eight years later". A slim young man ([[Pierre Batcheff]]) bicycles down a calm urban street wearing what appears to be a [[Religious habit|nun's habit]] and a striped box with a strap around his neck. A cut occurs to the young woman from the first scene, who has been reading in a sparsely furnished upstairs apartment. She hears the young man approaching on his bicycle and casts aside the book she was reading (revealing a reproduction of [[Vermeer]]'s [[The Lacemaker (Vermeer)|''The Lacemaker'']]). She goes to the window and sees the young man lying on the curb, his bicycle on the ground. She emerges from the building and attempts to revive the young man. |
The subsequent title card reads "eight years later". A slim young man ([[Pierre Batcheff]]) bicycles down a calm urban street wearing what appears to be a [[Religious habit|nun's habit]] and a striped box with a strap around his neck. A cut occurs to the young woman from the first scene, who has been reading in a sparsely furnished upstairs apartment. She hears the young man approaching on his bicycle and casts aside the book she was reading (revealing a reproduction of [[Vermeer]]'s [[The Lacemaker (Vermeer)|''The Lacemaker'']]). She goes to the window and sees the young man lying on the curb, his bicycle on the ground. She emerges from the building and attempts to revive the young man. |
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The crowd clears when the policeman places the hand in the box previously carried by the young man and gives it to the young woman. The androgynous young woman contemplates something happily while standing in the middle of the now busy street clutching the box. She is then run over by a car and a few bystanders gather around her. The young man and the young woman watch these events unfold from the apartment window. The young man seems to take [[Sadomasochism|sadistic]] pleasure in the androgynous young woman's danger and subsequent death, and as he gestures at the shocked young woman in the room with him, he leers at her and gropes her breasts. |
The crowd clears when the policeman places the hand in the box previously carried by the young man and gives it to the young woman. The androgynous young woman contemplates something happily while standing in the middle of the now busy street clutching the box. She is then run over by a car and a few bystanders gather around her. The young man and the young woman watch these events unfold from the apartment window. The young man seems to take [[Sadomasochism|sadistic]] pleasure in the androgynous young woman's danger and subsequent death, and as he gestures at the shocked young woman in the room with him, he leers at her and gropes her breasts. |
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The young woman resists him at first, but then allows him to molest her as he imagines her nude from the front and the rear. The young woman pushes him away as he drifts off and she attempts to escape by running to the other side of the room. The young man corners her as she reaches for a racquet in self-defense, but he suddenly picks up two ropes and drags two grand pianos containing dead and rotting [[donkey]]s, stone tablets containing the [[Ten Commandments]], two pumpkins, and two rather bewildered priests (played by |
The young woman resists him at first, but then allows him to molest her as he imagines her nude from the front and the rear. The young woman pushes him away as he drifts off and she attempts to escape by running to the other side of the room. The young man corners her as she reaches for a racquet in self-defense, but he suddenly picks up two ropes and drags two grand pianos containing dead and rotting [[donkey]]s, stone tablets containing the [[Ten Commandments]], two pumpkins, and two rather bewildered priests (played by [[Jaume Miravitlles]] and [[Salvador Dalí]]) who are attached by the ropes. As he is unable to pursue, the young woman escapes the room. The young man chases after her, but she traps his hand, which is infested with ants, in the door. She finds the young man in the next room, dressed in his nun's garb in the bed. |
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The subsequent title card reads "around three in the morning". The young man is roused from his rest by the sound of a door-buzzer ringing (represented visually by a [[Cocktail shaker|Martini shaker]] being shaken by a set of arms through two holes in a wall). The young woman goes to answer the door and does not return. Another young man, whom we see only from behind, dressed in lighter clothing, arrives in the apartment, gesturing angrily at him. The second young man forces the first one to throw away his nun's clothing and then makes him stand with his face to the wall, as if in disgrace. |
The subsequent title card reads "around three in the morning". The young man is roused from his rest by the sound of a door-buzzer ringing (represented visually by a [[Cocktail shaker|Martini shaker]] being shaken by a set of arms through two holes in a wall). The young woman goes to answer the door and does not return. Another young man, whom we see only from behind, dressed in lighter clothing, arrives in the apartment, gesturing angrily at him. The second young man forces the first one to throw away his nun's clothing and then makes him stand with his face to the wall, as if in disgrace. |
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* Robert Hommet as Third Young Man (uncredited) |
* Robert Hommet as Third Young Man (uncredited) |
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* Kieran Agterberg as Seminarist (uncredited) |
* Kieran Agterberg as Seminarist (uncredited) |
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* Fano Messan as Androgynous Young Woman (uncredited) |
* [[Fano Messan]] as Androgynous Young Woman (uncredited) |
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* |
* [[Jaume Miravitlles]] as Fat seminarist (uncredited) |
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==Production== |
==Production== |
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In deliberate contrast to the approach taken by Jean Epstein and his peers, which was to never leave anything in their work to chance, with every aesthetic decision having a rational explanation and fitting clearly into the whole,<ref name="o'donoghue">{{cite magazine|last=O'Donoghue|first=Darragh|title=On Some Motifs in Poe: Jean Epstein's La Chute de la maison Usher|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2004/feature-articles/la_chute_de_la_maison_usher/#b4|magazine=Senses of Cinema|access-date=27 July 2012}}</ref> Buñuel made clear throughout his writings that, between Dalí and himself, the only rule for the writing of the script was: "No idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted."<ref>{{cite book |first=Luis|last=Buñuel|author-link=Luis Buñuel|others=Abigail Israel (trans)|title=My Last Sigh|url=https://archive.org/details/mylastsigh0000buue|url-access=registration|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|year=1983|isbn=0-394-52854-9}}</ref> He also stated: "Nothing, in the film, [[symbol]]izes anything. The only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, [[psychoanalysis]]."<ref>{{cite book|last=Sitney|first=P. Adams|title=Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|year=1974}}</ref> |
In deliberate contrast to the approach taken by Jean Epstein and his peers, which was to never leave anything in their work to chance, with every aesthetic decision having a rational explanation and fitting clearly into the whole,<ref name="o'donoghue">{{cite magazine|last=O'Donoghue|first=Darragh|title=On Some Motifs in Poe: Jean Epstein's La Chute de la maison Usher|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2004/feature-articles/la_chute_de_la_maison_usher/#b4|magazine=Senses of Cinema|access-date=27 July 2012}}</ref> Buñuel made clear throughout his writings that, between Dalí and himself, the only rule for the writing of the script was: "No idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted."<ref>{{cite book |first=Luis|last=Buñuel|author-link=Luis Buñuel|others=Abigail Israel (trans)|title=My Last Sigh|url=https://archive.org/details/mylastsigh0000buue|url-access=registration|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|year=1983|isbn=0-394-52854-9}}</ref> He also stated: "Nothing, in the film, [[symbol]]izes anything. The only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, [[psychoanalysis]]."<ref>{{cite book|last=Sitney|first=P. Adams|title=Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|year=1974}}</ref> |
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In his 1939 autobiography Buñuel said: "In the film the aesthetics of Surrealism are combined to some of [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]'s discoveries. The film was totally in keeping with the basic principle of the school, which defined Surrealism as 'Psychic Automatism', unconscious, capable of returning to the mind its true functions, beyond any form of control by reason, morality or aesthetics."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Collection: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia |author=Paloma Esteban Leal |publisher=Aldeasa(1997) |isbn=9-788480-030809|page=52}}</ref> |
In his 1939 autobiography Buñuel said: "In the film the aesthetics of Surrealism are combined to some of [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]'s discoveries. The film was totally in keeping with the basic principle of the school, which defined Surrealism as 'Psychic Automatism', unconscious, capable of returning to the mind its true functions, beyond any form of control by reason, morality or aesthetics."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Collection: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia |author=Paloma Esteban Leal |year=1997 |publisher=Aldeasa(1997) |isbn=9-788480-030809|page=52}}</ref> |
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===Filming=== |
===Filming=== |
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The film was financed by Buñuel's mother, and shot in [[Le Havre]] and [[Paris]] at the [[Billancourt Studios]] over a period of 10 days in March 1928.<ref name="brain juice andalusian dog">{{cite web|title=Un chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1929) |url=http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_wok.cgi?p_id=136&w_id=391 |publisher=Brain-Juice.Com |access-date=23 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205212607/http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_wok.cgi?p_id=136&w_id=391 |archive-date=5 December 2006 }}</ref> It is a black and white, 35 mm, silent film, with a running time of 17 minutes, although some sources state 24 minutes, and a physical length of 430 meters.<ref>{{cite web|title=(Andalusian Dog)|url=http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Ca-Chr/Un-Chien-Andalou.html|work=FilmReference|publisher=Advameg, Inc.|access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> |
The film was financed by Buñuel's mother, and shot in [[Le Havre]] and [[Paris]] at the [[Billancourt Studios]] over a period of 10 days in March 1928.<ref name="brain juice andalusian dog">{{cite web|title=Un chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1929) |url=http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_wok.cgi?p_id=136&w_id=391 |publisher=Brain-Juice.Com |access-date=23 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205212607/http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_wok.cgi?p_id=136&w_id=391 |archive-date=5 December 2006 }}</ref> It is a black and white, 35 mm, silent film, with a running time of 17 minutes, although some sources state 24 minutes, and a physical length of 430 meters.<ref>{{cite web|title=(Andalusian Dog)|url=http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Ca-Chr/Un-Chien-Andalou.html|work=FilmReference|publisher=Advameg, Inc.|access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> |
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For many years (and still), published and unpublished reports have circulated that Buñuel had used a dead goat's eye,<ref>Bendiner, Kenneth (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ygcrmSmQqRkC |
For many years (and still), published and unpublished reports have circulated that Buñuel had used a dead goat's eye,<ref>Bendiner, Kenneth (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ygcrmSmQqRkC&dq=%22un+chien+andalou%22+AND+calf+AND+eye+AND+Ebert&pg=PA230 ''Food in Painting: From the Renaissance to the Present''], [[London]]: [[Reaktion Books]]; p. 230, no. 9.</ref><ref>[[Roger Ebert|Ebert, Roger]], [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000416/REVIEWS08/401010369/1023 "Un chien andalou"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212191702/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20000416%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010369%2F1023 |date=12 February 2013 }} [review], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', 16 April 2000, p. 22.</ref> or that of a dead sheep,<ref>[[David Thomson (film critic)|Thomson, David]] (2008), ''"Have You Seen...?" A Personal introduction to 1,000 Films''; [[New York City|New York]]: [[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]], p. 162.</ref> or of a dead donkey,<ref>[[Allan Havis|Havis, Allan]] (2008), ''Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression'', [[University Press of America]], Inc., pg 11.</ref> or other animal, in the notorious eyeball-slicing scene. However, in an interview in 1975 or '76, Buñuel claimed that he had used a dead calf's eye.<ref>Turrent, T. and J. de la Colina (1993), ''Conversations avec Luis Buñuel'', [[Paris]], p. 32.</ref> Through the use of intense lighting, and bleaching of the calf's skin, Buñuel attempted to make the furred face of the animal appear as human skin. |
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During the bicycle scene, the woman who is sitting on a chair, reading, throws the book aside when she notices the man who has fallen. The image it shows when it lies open is a reproduction of a painting by [[Vermeer]], whom Dalí greatly admired and often referred to in his own paintings.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Jonathan|title=The riddle of the rocks|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/05/spain.art|access-date=25 October 2012|newspaper=Guardian News and Media|date=4 March 2007}}</ref> |
During the bicycle scene, the woman who is sitting on a chair, reading, throws the book aside when she notices the man who has fallen. The image it shows when it lies open is a reproduction of a painting by [[Vermeer]], whom Dalí greatly admired and often referred to in his own paintings.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Jonathan|title=The riddle of the rocks|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/05/spain.art|access-date=25 October 2012|newspaper=Guardian News and Media|date=4 March 2007}}</ref> |
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In Buñuel's original script, the final shot was to feature the corpses of the man and woman "consumed by swarms of flies". However, this [[special effect]] was modified due to budget limitations, with the film ending with a still shot of the man and woman, who had been walking in the previous beach scene, half-buried in the sand and apparently dead.<ref name=enforex>{{cite web|title=Un Chien Andalou|url=http://www.enforex.com/culture/un-chien-andalou.html|work=Spanish in the Spanish World|publisher=Enforex|access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> |
In Buñuel's original script, the final shot was to feature the corpses of the man and woman "consumed by swarms of flies". However, this [[special effect]] was modified due to budget limitations, with the film ending with a still shot of the man and woman, who had been walking in the previous beach scene, half-buried in the sand and apparently dead.<ref name=enforex>{{cite web|title=Un Chien Andalou|url=http://www.enforex.com/culture/un-chien-andalou.html|work=Spanish in the Spanish World|publisher=Enforex|access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> |
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The movie contains several thematic references to [[Federico García Lorca]] and other writers of that time.<ref name=ralphmag>{{cite web|last=Carens|first=Leslie J.|title=My Last Sigh|url=http://www.ralphmag.org/CK/surrealism.html|work=The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities|publisher=ralphmag.org|access-date=25 October 2012|quote=Federico Garcia-Lorca got angry because he claimed that he was being made fun ofhe thought he was the dog in Un Chien andalou.}}</ref> For example, the rotting donkeys are a reference to the popular children's novel ''[[Platero y yo]]'' by [[Juan Ramón Jiménez]], which Buñuel and Dalí hated.<ref name=vidal>{{cite book|last=Vidal|first=Agustín Sánchez|title=Buñuel, Lorca, Dali: The Endless Enigma|year=1988|publisher=Planet|location=Barcelona|page=189|quote=¡¡MERDE!! para su Platero y yo, para su fácil y malintencionado Platero y yo, el burro menos burro, el burro más odioso con que nos hemos tropezado. Y para V., para su funesta actuación, también: ¡¡¡¡MIERDA!!!!}} – Excerpt from letter written by Buñuel and Dalí to Jiménez, 1928.</ref> |
The movie contains several thematic (and negative) references to [[Federico García Lorca]] and other writers of that time.<ref name=ralphmag>{{cite web|last=Carens|first=Leslie J.|title=My Last Sigh|url=http://www.ralphmag.org/CK/surrealism.html|work=The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities|publisher=ralphmag.org|access-date=25 October 2012|quote=Federico Garcia-Lorca got angry because he claimed that he was being made fun ofhe thought he was the dog in Un Chien andalou.}}</ref> For example, the rotting donkeys are a reference to the popular children's novel ''[[Platero y yo]]'' by [[Juan Ramón Jiménez]], which Buñuel and Dalí hated.<ref name=vidal>{{cite book|last=Vidal|first=Agustín Sánchez|title=Buñuel, Lorca, Dali: The Endless Enigma|year=1988|publisher=Planet|location=Barcelona|page=189|quote=¡¡MERDE!! para su Platero y yo, para su fácil y malintencionado Platero y yo, el burro menos burro, el burro más odioso con que nos hemos tropezado. Y para V., para su funesta actuación, también: ¡¡¡¡MIERDA!!!!}} – Excerpt from letter written by Buñuel and Dalí to Jiménez, 1928.</ref> |
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Anthropologist [[Jean Rouch]] has reported that after filming was complete, Buñuel and Dalí had run out of money, forcing Buñuel to edit the film personally in his kitchen without the aid of a [[Moviola]] or any other technical equipment.<ref name=rouch>{{cite book|last=Rouch|first=Jean, with Lucien Taylor|title="A Life on the Edge of Filmed Anthropology", in Cine-Ethnography|year=2003|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=0-8166-4103-X|page=142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4z8UZ36WqsAC&q=un+chien+andalou+braunberger}}</ref> |
Anthropologist [[Jean Rouch]] has reported that after filming was complete, Buñuel and Dalí had run out of money, forcing Buñuel to edit the film personally in his kitchen without the aid of a [[Moviola]] or any other technical equipment.<ref name=rouch>{{cite book|last=Rouch|first=Jean, with Lucien Taylor|title="A Life on the Edge of Filmed Anthropology", in Cine-Ethnography|year=2003|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=0-8166-4103-X|page=142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4z8UZ36WqsAC&q=un+chien+andalou+braunberger}}</ref> |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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The first screening of |
The first screening of {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}} took place at Studio des Ursulines, with an audience of ''[[tout-Paris|le tout-Paris]]''. Notable attendees of the première included [[Pablo Picasso]], [[Le Corbusier]], [[Jean Cocteau]], [[Christian Bérard]] and [[Georges Auric]], in addition to the entirety of [[André Breton]]'s Surrealist group.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wojcik|first1=Pamela Robertson|last2=Knight|first2=Arthur|title=Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music|year=2001|publisher=Duke University Press|location=New York|isbn=0-8223-2797-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/soundtrackavaila00pame/page/37 37]|url=https://archive.org/details/soundtrackavaila00pame|url-access=registration}}</ref> The audience's positive reception of the film amazed Buñuel, who was relieved that no violence ensued. Dalí, on the contrary, was reportedly disappointed, feeling the audience's reaction made the evening "less exciting".<ref>{{cite web|title=Un Chien Andalou|url=http://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/library/films/un-chien-andalou-luis-bunuel/12415|publisher=[[Close-Up Film Centre]]|access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> Buñuel since claimed that prior to the show, he had put stones in his pockets "to throw at the audience in case of disaster", although others had no recollection of this.<ref>{{cite web|title=Un Chien Andalou Movie Review (1928) - Roger Ebert|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-un-chien-andalou-1928|last=Ebert|first=Roger|access-date=14 June 2013}}</ref> |
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It was Buñuel's intention to shock and insult the intellectual bourgeoisie of his youth, later saying: "Historically, this film represents a violent reaction against what at that time was called 'avantgarde cine,' which was directed exclusively to the artistic sensibility and to the reason of the spectator."<ref name="art in cinema">{{cite book|last=Buñuel|first=Luis|title="Notes on the Making of Un Chien Andalou", in Art in Cinema: documents toward a history of the film society|year=2006|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=1-59213-425-4|pages=101–102|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/32547313/Art-in-Cinema}}</ref> Against his hopes and expectations, the film was a huge success amongst the French bourgeoisie,<ref name=koller>{{cite web|last=Koller|first=Michael|title=Un Chien Andalou|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/cteq/chien/|work=Senses of Cinema|publisher=Film Victoria|access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> leading Buñuel to exclaim in exasperation, "What can I do about the people who adore all that is new, even when it goes against their deepest convictions, or about the insincere, corrupt press, and the inane herd that saw beauty or poetry in something which was basically no more than a desperate impassioned call for murder?"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buñuel|first=Luis|title=Preface to the script for Un Chien Andalou|journal=La Révolution Surréaliste|date=12 December 1929| |
It was Buñuel's intention to shock and insult the intellectual bourgeoisie of his youth, later saying: "Historically, this film represents a violent reaction against what at that time was called 'avantgarde cine,' which was directed exclusively to the artistic sensibility and to the reason of the spectator."<ref name="art in cinema">{{cite book|last=Buñuel|first=Luis|title="Notes on the Making of Un Chien Andalou", in Art in Cinema: documents toward a history of the film society|year=2006|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=1-59213-425-4|pages=101–102|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/32547313/Art-in-Cinema}}</ref> Against his hopes and expectations, the film was a huge success amongst the French bourgeoisie,<ref name=koller>{{cite web|last=Koller|first=Michael|title=Un Chien Andalou|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/cteq/chien/|work=Senses of Cinema|date=20 November 2001 |publisher=Film Victoria|access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> leading Buñuel to exclaim in exasperation, "What can I do about the people who adore all that is new, even when it goes against their deepest convictions, or about the insincere, corrupt press, and the inane herd that saw beauty or poetry in something which was basically no more than a desperate impassioned call for murder?"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buñuel|first=Luis|title=Preface to the script for Un Chien Andalou|journal=La Révolution Surréaliste|date=12 December 1929|number=12}}</ref> |
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After its "triumphant premiere", |
After its "triumphant premiere", {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}} was bought by the owner of "Studio-28". During its eight-month run, forty or fifty informers came to the police with a demand to ban such an indecent and cruel film.<ref>{{cite book|author=Derek Jones|title=The Collection: Censorship: A World Encyclopedia|date=December 2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzisCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT1571|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1579581350}}</ref> This was the beginning of years of insults and threats that haunted Buñuel until his old age. A likely apocryphal account claimed that two miscarriages occurred while watching the film. Despite the criticism, however, the film was never banned. |
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Through their accomplishment with |
Through their accomplishment with {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}}, Dalí and Buñuel became the first filmmakers to be officially welcomed into the ranks of the Surrealists by the movement's leader [[André Breton]], an event recalled by film historian [[Georges Sadoul]]: "Breton had convoked the creators to our usual venue [the Café Radio] ... one summer's evening. Dalí had the large eyes, grace, and timidity of a gazelle. To us, Buñuel, big and athletic, his black eyes protruding a little, seemed exactly like he always is in {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}}, meticulously honing the razor that will slice the open eye in two."<ref name="sadoul mon ami bunuel">{{cite journal|last=Sadoul|first=Georges|title=Mon ami Buñuel|journal=L'Écran française|date=18 December 1951|number=335|page=12}}</ref> |
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⚫ | The Japanese filmmaker [[Akira Kurosawa]] cited |
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==Sequel== |
==Sequel== |
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Among the most enthusiastic viewers of the film were the wealthy couple Viscount [[Charles de Noailles|Charles]] and [[Marie-Laure de Noailles]], who commissioned Dalí and Buñuel to create a sequel, of around the same length, with sound, to be called ''La Bête Andalouse'', in order to affirm its connection with ''Un Chien''.<ref name="gubern">{{cite book|last=Gubern|first=Roman, and Paul Hammond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elueEkeLL_oC|title=Luis Bunuel: The Red Years, 1929–1939|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-299-28474-9|location=Milwaukee|page=18}}</ref> Dalí stated that the theme of the new film was to parallel that of the first: "to present the straight and pure 'conduct' of someone who continues to pursue love despite wretched humanitarian ideals, patriotism and the other poor mechanisms of reality."<ref>{{cite web|last=Parsi|first=Jacques|title=L'âge d'or|url=http://www.cineclubdecaen.com/realisat/bunuel/agedor.htm|access-date=25 October 2012|publisher=Ciné-club de Caen}}</ref> This new film ultimately was released in 1930 under the title ''[[L'Age d'Or]].'' |
Among the most enthusiastic viewers of the film were the wealthy couple Viscount [[Charles de Noailles|Charles]] and [[Marie-Laure de Noailles]], who commissioned Dalí and Buñuel to create a sequel, of around the same length, with sound, to be called ''La Bête Andalouse'', in order to affirm its connection with ''Un Chien''.<ref name="gubern">{{cite book|last=Gubern|first=Roman, and Paul Hammond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elueEkeLL_oC|title=Luis Bunuel: The Red Years, 1929–1939|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-299-28474-9|location=Milwaukee|page=18}}</ref> Dalí stated that the theme of the new film was to parallel that of the first: "to present the straight and pure 'conduct' of someone who continues to pursue love despite wretched humanitarian ideals, patriotism and the other poor mechanisms of reality."<ref>{{cite web|last=Parsi|first=Jacques|title=L'âge d'or|url=http://www.cineclubdecaen.com/realisat/bunuel/agedor.htm|access-date=25 October 2012|publisher=Ciné-club de Caen}}</ref> This new film ultimately was released in 1930 under the title ''[[L'Age d'Or]].'' |
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The sequel was not a success with Parisian high society. First shown in November 1930, it was received extremely coldly. The next day, Charles de |
The sequel was not a success with Parisian high society. First shown in November 1930, it was received extremely coldly. The next day, Charles de Noailles learned that he had been expelled <ref>{{cite book|author=David Duez|title=Pour en finir avec une rumeur : du nouveau sur le scandale de l'Âge d'or|year=2001|url=https://archive.org/details/censorshipworlde0002unse|url-access=registration|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1579581350}}</ref> from the [[Jockey Club de Paris]]. The de Noailles family quickly withdrew the film after it was banned by the [[Prefecture of Police of Paris]]. |
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==Soundtrack== |
==Soundtrack== |
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==Influence== |
==Influence== |
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Film scholar [[Ken Dancyger]] has argued that |
Film scholar [[Ken Dancyger]] has argued that {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}} might be the genesis of the filmmaking style present in the modern [[music video]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Dancyger|first=Ken|title=The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice|publisher=[[Focal Press]]|date=July 2002|isbn=0-240-80420-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/techniqueoffilmv00danc_1}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] had called it the inspiration for low budget [[independent films]].<ref name="Ebert">{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-un-chien-andalou-1928|title=Un Chien Andalou (1928)|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=16 April 2000|access-date=4 February 2023|author-link=Roger Ebert|work=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref> ''[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]'' ranked the opening scene as 10th out of "The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.premiere.com/best/2246/the-25-most-shocking-moments-in-movie-history-page11.html | title = The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History | access-date = 22 June 2012 | work = [[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]] | publisher = [[Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070428033047/http://www.premiere.com/best/2246/the-25-most-shocking-moments-in-movie-history-page11.html | archive-date = 28 April 2007}}</ref> |
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⚫ | The Japanese filmmaker [[Akira Kurosawa]] cited {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}} as one of his favorite films.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Lee Thomas-Mason |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out |date=12 January 2021 |publisher=Far Out Magazine |access-date=10 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 Movies! | url = http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100327124349/http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | archive-date = 27 March 2010 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> |
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The film was shown before every concert of the [[Isolar – 1976 Tour|Isolar Tour]] by British artist [[David Bowie]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/the-unorthodox-uncanny-eye-of-david-bowie|title=The Unorthodox, Uncanny Eye of David Bowie|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=23 February 2018}}</ref> |
The film was shown before every concert of the [[Isolar – 1976 Tour|Isolar Tour]] by British artist [[David Bowie]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/the-unorthodox-uncanny-eye-of-david-bowie|title=The Unorthodox, Uncanny Eye of David Bowie|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=23 February 2018}}</ref> |
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The lyrics of the [[Pixies (band)|Pixies]] song "[[Debaser]]" are based on |
The lyrics of the [[Pixies (band)|Pixies]] song "[[Debaser]]" are based on {{lang|fr|Un Chien Andalou}}.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Taylor |first=Tom |date=7 September 2021 |title=How Salvador Dalí inspired a Pixies masterpiece |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-salvador-dali-inspired-pixies-masterpiece/ |magazine=[[Far Out Magazine]] |access-date=29 December 2021}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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* [[List of works by Salvador Dalí]] |
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* [[List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes]], a film review aggregator website |
* [[List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes]], a film review aggregator website |
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* [http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/un-perro-andaluz/perro-andaluz/1570997/ Un perro andaluz]. The film, online at [[RTVE]]. |
* [http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/un-perro-andaluz/perro-andaluz/1570997/ Un perro andaluz]. The film, online at [[RTVE]]. |
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* {{IMDb title|0020530}} |
* {{IMDb title|0020530}} |
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* {{ |
* {{AllMovie title|51646}} |
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* {{Rotten-tomatoes|un_chien_andalou}} |
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|un_chien_andalou}} |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101225061923/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/12/chien.html ''Un Chien Andalou''] analyzed by Michael Koller |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101225061923/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/12/chien.html ''Un Chien Andalou''] analyzed by Michael Koller |
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[[Category:1929 short films]] |
[[Category:1929 short films]] |
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[[Category:Surrealist films]] |
[[Category:Surrealist films]] |
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[[Category:Salvador Dalí]] |
[[Category:Film with screenplays by Salvador Dalí]] |
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[[Category:Films directed by Luis Buñuel]] |
[[Category:Films directed by Luis Buñuel]] |
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[[Category:French black-and-white films]] |
[[Category:French black-and-white films]] |
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[[Category:French silent short films]] |
[[Category:French silent short films]] |
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[[Category:French independent films]] |
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[[Category:1920s avant-garde and experimental films]] |
[[Category:1920s avant-garde and experimental films]] |
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[[Category:Censored films]] |
[[Category:Censored films]] |
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[[Category:Film controversies in France]] |
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[[Category:1929 directorial debut films]] |
[[Category:1929 directorial debut films]] |
Revision as of 12:02, 16 July 2024
This article uses citations that link to broken or outdated sources. (References 17, 19). (September 2023) |
Un Chien Andalou | |
---|---|
![]() Latter-day French poster | |
Directed by | Luis Buñuel |
Written by | Luis Buñuel Salvador Dalí |
Produced by | Luis Buñuel |
Starring | Pierre Batcheff Simone Mareuil Luis Buñuel Salvador Dalí Jaume Miravitlles Fano Messan (uncredited) |
Cinematography | Albert Duverger Jimmy Berliet (uncredited) |
Edited by | Luis Buñuel |
Music by | Richard Wagner |
Distributed by | Les Grands Films Classiques (France) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 21 minutes |
Land | Frankreich |
Languages | Silent film (French intertitles) |
Budget | < 100,000 francs |
Un Chien Andalou (French pronunciation: [œ̃ ʃjɛ̃ ɑ̃dalu], An Andalusian Dog) is a 1929 French silent short film directed, produced and edited by Luis Buñuel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Salvador Dalí. Buñuel's first film, it was initially released in a limited capacity at Studio des Ursulines in Paris, but became popular and ran for eight months.[1]
Un Chien Andalou has no plot in the conventional sense of the word. With disjointed chronology, jumping from the initial "once upon a time" to "eight years later" without events or characters changing, it uses dream logic in narrative flow that can be described in terms of the then-popular Freudian free association, presenting a series of tenuously related scenes. Un Chien Andalou is a seminal work in the genre of surrealist cinema.
The film will enter the US public domain on January 1, 2025.
Synopsis
The film opens with a title card reading "Once upon a time". A man (Luis Buñuel) sharpens his razor at his balcony door and tests the razor on his thumb. He then opens the door, and idly fingers the razor while gazing at the Moon, about to be bisected by a thin cloud, from his balcony. There is a cut to a close-up of a young woman (Simone Mareuil) being held by the man. She calmly stares straight ahead as he brings the razor near her eye. Another cut occurs to the cloud passing in front of the Moon, then a cut to a close up of a hand slitting the eye of an animal with the razor (which happens so quickly the viewer may believe it was the woman's eye), and the vitreous humour spills out from it.
The subsequent title card reads "eight years later". A slim young man (Pierre Batcheff) bicycles down a calm urban street wearing what appears to be a nun's habit and a striped box with a strap around his neck. A cut occurs to the young woman from the first scene, who has been reading in a sparsely furnished upstairs apartment. She hears the young man approaching on his bicycle and casts aside the book she was reading (revealing a reproduction of Vermeer's The Lacemaker). She goes to the window and sees the young man lying on the curb, his bicycle on the ground. She emerges from the building and attempts to revive the young man.
Later, the young woman assembles pieces of the young man's clothing on a bed in the upstairs room, and concentrates upon the clothing. The young man appears near the door. The young man and the young woman stare at his hand, which has a hole in the palm from which ants emerge. A slow transition occurs focusing on the armpit hair of the young woman as she lies on the beach and a sea urchin at a sandy location. There is a cut to an androgynous young woman, with bobbed hair and dressed in rather masculine attire, in the street below the apartment. She pokes at a severed human hand with her cane while surrounded by a large crowd held back by policemen.
The crowd clears when the policeman places the hand in the box previously carried by the young man and gives it to the young woman. The androgynous young woman contemplates something happily while standing in the middle of the now busy street clutching the box. She is then run over by a car and a few bystanders gather around her. The young man and the young woman watch these events unfold from the apartment window. The young man seems to take sadistic pleasure in the androgynous young woman's danger and subsequent death, and as he gestures at the shocked young woman in the room with him, he leers at her and gropes her breasts.
The young woman resists him at first, but then allows him to molest her as he imagines her nude from the front and the rear. The young woman pushes him away as he drifts off and she attempts to escape by running to the other side of the room. The young man corners her as she reaches for a racquet in self-defense, but he suddenly picks up two ropes and drags two grand pianos containing dead and rotting donkeys, stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, two pumpkins, and two rather bewildered priests (played by Jaume Miravitlles and Salvador Dalí) who are attached by the ropes. As he is unable to pursue, the young woman escapes the room. The young man chases after her, but she traps his hand, which is infested with ants, in the door. She finds the young man in the next room, dressed in his nun's garb in the bed.
The subsequent title card reads "around three in the morning". The young man is roused from his rest by the sound of a door-buzzer ringing (represented visually by a Martini shaker being shaken by a set of arms through two holes in a wall). The young woman goes to answer the door and does not return. Another young man, whom we see only from behind, dressed in lighter clothing, arrives in the apartment, gesturing angrily at him. The second young man forces the first one to throw away his nun's clothing and then makes him stand with his face to the wall, as if in disgrace.
The subsequent title card reads "Sixteen years ago". We see the second young man's face for the first time (and discover that he is also played by Pierre Batcheff) as he admires the art supplies and books on the table near the wall and forces the first young man to hold two of the books as he stares at the wall. The first young man eventually shoots the second young man when the books abruptly turn into revolvers. The second young man, now in a meadow, dies while swiping at the back of a nude female figure which suddenly disappears into thin air. A group of men come and carry his corpse away.
The young woman returns to the apartment and sees a death's-head moth. The first young man sneers at her as she retreats and wipes his mouth off his face with his hand. The young woman very nervously applies some lipstick in response. Subsequently, the first young man makes the young woman's armpit hair attach itself to where his mouth would be on his face through gestures. The young woman looks at the first young man with disgust, and leaves the apartment sticking her tongue out at him.
As she exits her apartment, the street is replaced by a coastal beach, where the young woman meets a third man with whom she walks arm in arm. He shows her the time on his watch and they walk near the rocks, where they find the remnants of the first young man's nun's clothing and the box. They seem to walk away clutching each other happily and make romantic gestures in a long tracking shot. However, the film abruptly cuts to the final shot with a title card reading "In Spring", showing the couple buried in beach sand up to their elbows, motionless and perhaps dead.
Cast
- Simone Mareuil as Young Girl (as Simonne Mareuil)
- Pierre Batcheff as Young Man and Second Young Man (as Pierre Batchef)
- Luis Buñuel as Man in Prologue (uncredited)
- Salvador Dalí as Seminarist and as Man on Beach (uncredited)
- Robert Hommet as Third Young Man (uncredited)
- Kieran Agterberg as Seminarist (uncredited)
- Fano Messan as Androgynous Young Woman (uncredited)
- Jaume Miravitlles as Fat seminarist (uncredited)
Production
Development
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/Screenshot_from_Un_Chien_Andalou.jpg/220px-Screenshot_from_Un_Chien_Andalou.jpg)
The screenplay of the film is based on two dreams of its creators Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. The idea for the film began when Buñuel was working as an assistant director for Jean Epstein in France. Buñuel told Dalí at a restaurant one day about a dream in which a cloud sliced the moon in half "like a razor blade slicing through an eye". Dalí responded that he had dreamed about a hand crawling with ants. Excitedly, Buñuel declared: "There's the film, let's go and make it."[2] They were fascinated by what the psyche could create, and decided to write a script based on the concept of suppressed human emotions.[2] The title of the film is a hidden reminiscence from the Spanish saying: "the Andalusian dog howls –someone has died!”[citation needed] The screenplay was written in a few days.
According to Buñuel, they adhered to a simple rule: “Do not dwell on what required purely rational, psychological or cultural explanations. Open the way to the irrational. It was accepted only that which struck us, regardless of the meaning ... We did not have a single argument. A week of impeccable understanding. One, say, said: "A man drags double bass." “No,” the other objected. And the objection was immediately accepted as completely justified. But when the proposal of one liked the other, it seemed to us magnificent, indisputable and immediately introduced into the script.”[3]
In deliberate contrast to the approach taken by Jean Epstein and his peers, which was to never leave anything in their work to chance, with every aesthetic decision having a rational explanation and fitting clearly into the whole,[4] Buñuel made clear throughout his writings that, between Dalí and himself, the only rule for the writing of the script was: "No idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted."[5] He also stated: "Nothing, in the film, symbolizes anything. The only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, psychoanalysis."[6]
In his 1939 autobiography Buñuel said: "In the film the aesthetics of Surrealism are combined to some of Freud's discoveries. The film was totally in keeping with the basic principle of the school, which defined Surrealism as 'Psychic Automatism', unconscious, capable of returning to the mind its true functions, beyond any form of control by reason, morality or aesthetics."[7]
Filming
The film was financed by Buñuel's mother, and shot in Le Havre and Paris at the Billancourt Studios over a period of 10 days in March 1928.[8] It is a black and white, 35 mm, silent film, with a running time of 17 minutes, although some sources state 24 minutes, and a physical length of 430 meters.[9]
For many years (and still), published and unpublished reports have circulated that Buñuel had used a dead goat's eye,[10][11] or that of a dead sheep,[12] or of a dead donkey,[13] or other animal, in the notorious eyeball-slicing scene. However, in an interview in 1975 or '76, Buñuel claimed that he had used a dead calf's eye.[14] Through the use of intense lighting, and bleaching of the calf's skin, Buñuel attempted to make the furred face of the animal appear as human skin.
During the bicycle scene, the woman who is sitting on a chair, reading, throws the book aside when she notices the man who has fallen. The image it shows when it lies open is a reproduction of a painting by Vermeer, whom Dalí greatly admired and often referred to in his own paintings.[15]
In Buñuel's original script, the final shot was to feature the corpses of the man and woman "consumed by swarms of flies". However, this special effect was modified due to budget limitations, with the film ending with a still shot of the man and woman, who had been walking in the previous beach scene, half-buried in the sand and apparently dead.[16]
The movie contains several thematic (and negative) references to Federico García Lorca and other writers of that time.[17] For example, the rotting donkeys are a reference to the popular children's novel Platero y yo by Juan Ramón Jiménez, which Buñuel and Dalí hated.[18]
Anthropologist Jean Rouch has reported that after filming was complete, Buñuel and Dalí had run out of money, forcing Buñuel to edit the film personally in his kitchen without the aid of a Moviola or any other technical equipment.[19]
Reception
The first screening of Un Chien Andalou took place at Studio des Ursulines, with an audience of le tout-Paris. Notable attendees of the première included Pablo Picasso, Le Corbusier, Jean Cocteau, Christian Bérard and Georges Auric, in addition to the entirety of André Breton's Surrealist group.[20] The audience's positive reception of the film amazed Buñuel, who was relieved that no violence ensued. Dalí, on the contrary, was reportedly disappointed, feeling the audience's reaction made the evening "less exciting".[21] Buñuel since claimed that prior to the show, he had put stones in his pockets "to throw at the audience in case of disaster", although others had no recollection of this.[22]
It was Buñuel's intention to shock and insult the intellectual bourgeoisie of his youth, later saying: "Historically, this film represents a violent reaction against what at that time was called 'avantgarde cine,' which was directed exclusively to the artistic sensibility and to the reason of the spectator."[23] Against his hopes and expectations, the film was a huge success amongst the French bourgeoisie,[24] leading Buñuel to exclaim in exasperation, "What can I do about the people who adore all that is new, even when it goes against their deepest convictions, or about the insincere, corrupt press, and the inane herd that saw beauty or poetry in something which was basically no more than a desperate impassioned call for murder?"[25]
After its "triumphant premiere", Un Chien Andalou was bought by the owner of "Studio-28". During its eight-month run, forty or fifty informers came to the police with a demand to ban such an indecent and cruel film.[26] This was the beginning of years of insults and threats that haunted Buñuel until his old age. A likely apocryphal account claimed that two miscarriages occurred while watching the film. Despite the criticism, however, the film was never banned.
Through their accomplishment with Un Chien Andalou, Dalí and Buñuel became the first filmmakers to be officially welcomed into the ranks of the Surrealists by the movement's leader André Breton, an event recalled by film historian Georges Sadoul: "Breton had convoked the creators to our usual venue [the Café Radio] ... one summer's evening. Dalí had the large eyes, grace, and timidity of a gazelle. To us, Buñuel, big and athletic, his black eyes protruding a little, seemed exactly like he always is in Un Chien Andalou, meticulously honing the razor that will slice the open eye in two."[27]
Sequel
Among the most enthusiastic viewers of the film were the wealthy couple Viscount Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, who commissioned Dalí and Buñuel to create a sequel, of around the same length, with sound, to be called La Bête Andalouse, in order to affirm its connection with Un Chien.[28] Dalí stated that the theme of the new film was to parallel that of the first: "to present the straight and pure 'conduct' of someone who continues to pursue love despite wretched humanitarian ideals, patriotism and the other poor mechanisms of reality."[29] This new film ultimately was released in 1930 under the title L'Age d'Or.
The sequel was not a success with Parisian high society. First shown in November 1930, it was received extremely coldly. The next day, Charles de Noailles learned that he had been expelled [30] from the Jockey Club de Paris. The de Noailles family quickly withdrew the film after it was banned by the Prefecture of Police of Paris.
Soundtrack
During the original 1929 screening in Paris, Buñuel selected music which he played live on a gramophone. Modern prints of the film feature a soundtrack consisting of excerpts from Richard Wagner's "Liebestod" from his opera Tristan und Isolde and a recording of two Argentinian tangos, "Tango Argentino" and "Recuerdos" by the Vicente Alvarez & Carlos Otero et son orchestre. They were first added to a print of the film in 1960 under Buñuel's supervision.[31]
Influence
Film scholar Ken Dancyger has argued that Un Chien Andalou might be the genesis of the filmmaking style present in the modern music video.[32] Roger Ebert had called it the inspiration for low budget independent films.[33] Premiere ranked the opening scene as 10th out of "The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History".[34]
The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited Un Chien Andalou as one of his favorite films.[35][36]
The film was shown before every concert of the Isolar Tour by British artist David Bowie.[37]
The lyrics of the Pixies song "Debaser" are based on Un Chien Andalou.[38]
See also
- List of works by Salvador Dalí
- List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a film review aggregator website
References
- ^ "Un Chien Andalou". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
- ^ a b Etherington-Smith, Meredith (1995). The Persistence of Memory: A Biography of Dalí. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-306-80662-2.
- ^ Fundació Gala (Dalí Film Library Films). "Un Chien andalou-Library Films and video art". salvador-dali.org. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ O'Donoghue, Darragh. "On Some Motifs in Poe: Jean Epstein's La Chute de la maison Usher". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ^ Buñuel, Luis (1983). My Last Sigh. Abigail Israel (trans). New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52854-9.
- ^ Sitney, P. Adams (1974). Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Paloma Esteban Leal (1997). The Collection: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Aldeasa(1997). p. 52. ISBN 9-788480-030809.
- ^ "Un chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1929)". Brain-Juice.Com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ "(Andalusian Dog)". FilmReference. Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ Bendiner, Kenneth (2004), Food in Painting: From the Renaissance to the Present, London: Reaktion Books; p. 230, no. 9.
- ^ Ebert, Roger, "Un chien andalou" Archived 12 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine [review], Chicago Sun-Times, 16 April 2000, p. 22.
- ^ Thomson, David (2008), "Have You Seen...?" A Personal introduction to 1,000 Films; New York: Knopf, p. 162.
- ^ Havis, Allan (2008), Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression, University Press of America, Inc., pg 11.
- ^ Turrent, T. and J. de la Colina (1993), Conversations avec Luis Buñuel, Paris, p. 32.
- ^ Jones, Jonathan (4 March 2007). "The riddle of the rocks". Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ "Un Chien Andalou". Spanish in the Spanish World. Enforex. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ Carens, Leslie J. "My Last Sigh". The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities. ralphmag.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
Federico Garcia-Lorca got angry because he claimed that he was being made fun ofhe thought he was the dog in Un Chien andalou.
- ^ Vidal, Agustín Sánchez (1988). Buñuel, Lorca, Dali: The Endless Enigma. Barcelona: Planet. p. 189.
¡¡MERDE!! para su Platero y yo, para su fácil y malintencionado Platero y yo, el burro menos burro, el burro más odioso con que nos hemos tropezado. Y para V., para su funesta actuación, también: ¡¡¡¡MIERDA!!!!
– Excerpt from letter written by Buñuel and Dalí to Jiménez, 1928. - ^ Rouch, Jean, with Lucien Taylor (2003). "A Life on the Edge of Filmed Anthropology", in Cine-Ethnography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 142. ISBN 0-8166-4103-X.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Wojcik, Pamela Robertson; Knight, Arthur (2001). Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music. New York: Duke University Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-8223-2797-X.
- ^ "Un Chien Andalou". Close-Up Film Centre. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Un Chien Andalou Movie Review (1928) - Roger Ebert". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
- ^ Buñuel, Luis (2006). "Notes on the Making of Un Chien Andalou", in Art in Cinema: documents toward a history of the film society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 101–102. ISBN 1-59213-425-4.
- ^ Koller, Michael (20 November 2001). "Un Chien Andalou". Senses of Cinema. Film Victoria. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ Buñuel, Luis (12 December 1929). "Preface to the script for Un Chien Andalou". La Révolution Surréaliste (12).
- ^ Derek Jones (December 2001). The Collection: Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1579581350.
- ^ Sadoul, Georges (18 December 1951). "Mon ami Buñuel". L'Écran française (335): 12.
- ^ Gubern, Roman, and Paul Hammond (2012). Luis Bunuel: The Red Years, 1929–1939. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-299-28474-9.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Parsi, Jacques. "L'âge d'or". Ciné-club de Caen. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ David Duez (2001). Pour en finir avec une rumeur : du nouveau sur le scandale de l'Âge d'or. Routledge. ISBN 978-1579581350.
- ^ Buñuel, 1968
- ^ Dancyger, Ken (July 2002). The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice. Focal Press. ISBN 0-240-80420-1.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (16 April 2000). "Un Chien Andalou (1928)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ "The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History". Premiere. Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ Lee Thomas-Mason (12 January 2021). "From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time". Far Out. Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
- ^ "Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 Movies!". Archived from the original on 27 March 2010.
- ^ "The Unorthodox, Uncanny Eye of David Bowie". The New Yorker. 23 February 2018.
- ^ Taylor, Tom (7 September 2021). "How Salvador Dalí inspired a Pixies masterpiece". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
Further reading
- Buñuel, Luis; Salvador Dalí (1968). Classic Film Scripts: L'Age d'Or and Un Chien Andalou. Marianne Alexandre (trans.). New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-85647-079-1.
- «Film, Freud and Paranoia: Dalí and the Representation of Male Desire in An Andalusian Dog.» Diacritics
External links
- Un perro andaluz. The film, online at RTVE.
- Un Chien Andalou at IMDb
- Un Chien Andalou at AllMovie
- Un Chien Andalou at Rotten Tomatoes
- Un Chien Andalou analyzed by Michael Koller
- Un Chien Andalou, from Shatter, Rupture, Break one of the Art Institute of Chicago's digital scholarly catalogues