Critic Reviews
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (2000) Rank 3 Reviews
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based on (46) reviews
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Time Out (--)
Delightful if overrated comedy from Buñuel, flitting about from frustrating situation to frustrating situation as six characters in search of a meal never manage actually to eat it. Are they prevented by their own ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Time Out (--)
Philadelphia City Paper (Sam Adams)
Both vicious in intent and light in tone. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Philadelphia City Paper (Sam Adams)
Filmchaw (Andrew Moxon)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)
One of Luis Bunuel's greatest and funniest films, and the winner of a Best Foreign Film Oscar, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a brilliant surrealistic joke about a group of friends whose attempts to dine are continually thwarted. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)
DVDTown.com (John J. Puccio)
...captivating, filled with a myriad of small, humorous, wicked touches that continually please. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at DVDTown.com (John J. Puccio)
ToxicUniverse.com (John A. Nesbit)
retains elements of surrealism while remaining one of the more accessible and playful of his films. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at ToxicUniverse.com (John A. Nesbit)
Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Rest assured, this film is one long joke on the audience, and anyone who watches it with the notion that he might understand it completely is either ponderously full of himself or sadly mistaken. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
CineScene.com (Ed Owens)
Buñuel has fun toying with, and subverting, narrative conventions - interrupting the film with minor characters telling their dreams or life stories, presenting sequences that end with a character waking up and realizing that it was all a dream, only to ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at CineScene.com (Ed Owens)
San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
Bunuel was notoriously economical in his work habits: Retakes were rare, and actors got a minimum of direction with no psychological discussion. And yet, Carriere remembers, speaking from his home in Paris, ``working with Bunuel was a joy. ``He put no ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
Kino.Lounge (FilmWolf)
Zur Enstehung von "Der diskrete Charme der Bourgeoisie (DCB)" schreibt Bunuel in "Mein letzter Seufzer":
"Wir suchten nach einem Vorwand für eine sich wiederholende Handlung, als [Produzent] Silbermann uns etwas erzählte, was ihm passiert war. Er ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Kino.Lounge (FilmWolf)
Miradas desde el Sur (Leonel Delgado Aburto)
Casi 30 años después El discreto encanto de la burguesÃa (Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, 1972) aparece sabrosamente atrapada en su época. Quizá de la trilogÃa que forma con El fantasma de la libertad (1974) y Ese obscuro objeto del deseo ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Miradas desde el Sur (Leonel Delgado Aburto)
Strictly Film School (Acquarello)
Luis Buñuel creates an absurdly comic and wickedly incisive portrait of the meaningless social rituals and polite hypocrisy of the upper middle class in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. By interweaving exaggerated reality with lucid dream ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Strictly Film School (Acquarello)
Deseret News, Salt Lake City (--)
Nearly 30 years after its original release, director Luis Bunuel's fantasy/satire The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie has lost none of its charm and mirth. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City (--)
Sacramento Bee (Joe Baltake)
Although it doesn't hold up as much as you'd like it to, I liked its sense of scattered independence. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Sacramento Bee (Joe Baltake)
Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
It remains a classic of surrealism, packed with disturbing images and sly (some would say 'perverse') humor. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
PopMatters (Jonathan Beebe)
The essential desire to 'change life and the world' is still there for you to see in Dali's painting and Buñuel's film. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at PopMatters (Jonathan Beebe)
New York Magazine (Peter Rainer)
Much has been written about this film as a debonair surrealist jape, and Buñuel himself commented at the time, "I now say with humor what I used to say with violence." But take a look again at its dream sequences, especially the nocturnal one involving ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at New York Magazine (Peter Rainer)
New York Times (A.O. Scott)
It combines a masterful command of the medium with a mischievous, anarchic sense of imaginative freedom. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Movies don't come more original, inventive, or outlandishly entertaining. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Village Voice (J. Hoberman)
One of the best titles in movie history and a cast to match. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Village Voice (J. Hoberman)
Harvey's Movie Review (Harvey O'Brien)
The cinematic radicalism and social satire of the original surrealists became diluted quickly. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Harvey's Movie Review (Harvey O'Brien)
Bright Lights Film Journal (--)
Despite his godlike status as one of cinema’s great artists and rebels, Luis Buñuel has only recently arrived on DVD. Criterion has just released two of his features, one in the middle ground of his achievement (Diary of a Chambermaid), the other an ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Bright Lights Film Journal (--)
Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)
It seems pompous and scattershot now -- a tweaking of privileged European smugness that unfolds with a playful daisy-chain logic but has the tone of a quaint, doddering lecture. ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)
Images (Gary Mark Morris)
Leisurely subplots rip the veil – never exactly secure – from this allegedly respectable group. Like the other characters, the Senechals wander in a haze of self-absorption, so much so that they can’t even observe the simplest rituals of their ...read the complete Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review at Images (Gary Mark Morris)
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