L' ÂGE D'OR (THE GOLDEN AGE)
Luis Buñuel, France & Spain, 1930
Wednesday 7 August 12.30am-1.30am; rpt Friday 9 August 12.30am-1.30am
2002
For film pioneers such as Luis Buñuel and Man Ray, Surrealism was not simply an artistic movement. It was warfare against an establishment they perceived as corrupt and corrupting, tired, trite and contemptibly tedious. Consequently, their movies rage with imagination and invention, revelling in the possibilities presented by light, form and action.
Surrealism evolved from the Dada movement which had formed a response to the cynicism and despair following World War I. But whereas Dadaists defined an anti-artistic attitude, the Surrealists were driven by a passion for visual stimulation and their films, typified by this threesome, embraced dark humour, daring eroticism and ground-breaking narrative structures.
Buñuel's L'Âge d'Or represents a high point of cinematic surrealism. Co-written by the director and Salvador Dali, the plot concerns two sweethearts who are desperate to consummate their relationship. Thwarted at every turn by the 'establishment' in various austere guises, their quest becomes a ferocious satire castigating everything from bourgeois ethics to the Church.
The film crackles with violence that veers from comedic to brutal, and erotic imagery, most notably the famous toe-sucking scene. Enraged right-wing extremists physically attacked venues which had the temerity to screen the work and although L'Âge d'Or retains its power to shock, it is now hailed as a breathless monument to early cinematic verve, courage and sheer creativity.
Similarly, viewed today, Man Ray's short film, Les Mystères du Château de Dé, looks fresh and modern. Liberated from the tyranny of the tripod, the camerawork is fast and fluent, looking more like a Derek Jarman feature or pop video than a traditional silent film.
Finally, Le Retour à la Raison works as a brief experiment in abstract expressionism, culminating in an iconic shot of a female's nude torso. Both films benefit from Man Ray's genius as a photographer as they present a series of playfully emotive images.
Ultimately, the trail-blazing techniques evident in these films became crucial elements of mainstream cinema. It seems the Surrealists won their war after all. And with movies like these in their arsenal, it's hardly surprising.
Gavin Collinson
