1972 Discreet Charm Of The Bourgiouse (89th)

What else happened this year? Another hectic one, The Munich Olympics, Watergate, and Bloody Sunday. Time to hit the weed, methinks.

What is the plot - in one sentence? In a surrealist world, we follow a group of 6 bourgeoisie people as they try to have a meal.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? Despite their wealth and comfort, there’s always an issue (the army coming along to interrupt, a restaurant out of all food and drink, they get executed by terrorists, etc). The six of them are shown wandering around in the outdoors, and the men are possibly arrested for drug smuggling. That’s pretty much it.

What is the meaning of the title? The central characters seem to be bourgeois, and they’re not particularly charming, so I guess that works out.

The Three seated women are part of the main cast. This scene is exasperating. They're in a cafe, and there's no food or drink. It takes about 5 minutes to work that out. Then we have to listen to the soldier on the right talk about his dreams like he's a 13 year old girl.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? No slapping! Though a female guerilla is shot at in public, but that's probably a dream.

Any thoughts? There are at least a few times in the movie where the entirety of the movie grinds to a halt to let some fucker describe a dream that he's had. The soldier in the cafe being the most egregious example, but that Bishop Gardener, was also pretty annoying. The final party of the evening appears to be a dream too, which is annoying. I also think it’s a bit of a gyp to have a surrealistic movie which is so dream-heavy.

A few things are quite funny, they are dismissive of a man in gardener’s robes, but defer to him when it’s clear that’s he’s a bishop, and a rebel from a terrorist group is thrown to the guards only when she refuses the guy’s sexual advances. Not exactly belly laughs, but pretty clever I guess.

Would you recommend this? No, I only enjoyed it a little. It's a black comedy and a surrealist satire, but a lot of it seemed like allegories for things which aren't readily obvious, especially now.

A second viewing might make thigns clearer (though it’s clear that there’s no logic involved in a lot of it, deliberately) but the fact that I wouldn't rush to watch this again would suggest that it’s not entirely my fault. 

The Wikipedia page decribes the plot as "five gatherings of a group of bourgeois friends, and the four dreams of different characters." That is too many dreams, no matter how interesting they are. I’ll drop this here, too, pretentious load o shite.

Final thoughts? I didn’t quite work out what was going on with the 6 of them. Two are having an affair, and the two sisters (are they sisters?) are romantically attached to the old fella? It doesn’t matter, but it’s perfectly possible to watch this, sober, and not realise what the hell is happening within the main group. Imagine what it's like for the allegorical acts and social criticism.

If you want to see my balls*, click here

*Balls = other articles in this series.