Day 279
4 April 2018 0331
‘My pursuit of liberty’ 2018
Something extraordinary has happened in this last period of 24 hours. I was distraught over a family situation and watched Annabelle (2014), The Moguls (2005), and Summer Hours (2008) instead of viewing or writing about the greatest films ever. I gave my brain a rest from Buñuel – on the advice of my wife – and watched frivolous movies instead.
Then I lucked into a situation where I was searching through Lane Cove Library’s video collection and discovered they had a Buñuel film I didn’t know I have the ability to access (El fantasma de la libertad).
My diet so far in the last twelve days has consisted of eight Buñuel films:
Diary of A Chambermaid
The Exterminating Angel
L’age d’or
La chien andalou
Viridiana
That Obscure Object of My Desire
Belle de jour
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The ninth was The Phantom of Liberty (1974).
By far, this is the most extraordinary of all his films (in my opinion) as it is the culmination of the different ways in which Buñuel, creatively, exercises his thoughts to combine the things he hates and the things he loves and the things he hates and loves simultaneously, and the things that are equally dialectic in their comment upon the remaining faith he has left and the remaining Christian belief he is still able to muster for anything that is substantial, tangible and physical.
