4K Restoration! As Luis Buñuel describes in his 1982 autobiography My Last Sigh, Él is “the portrait of a paranoiac, who, like a poet, is born, not made.” Its initial screenings at Cannes left audiences outraged, likely for being made to bear witness to the violent outbursts of an entitled chauvinist, portrayed by the lauded Arturo de Córdova in a role against type for such a beloved actor. This brutal takedown of toxic masculinity was hated by fellow Surrealist Jean Cocteau, who believed Buñuel had “committed [career] suicide” by making it, though embraced by Jacques Lacan, who appreciated Buñuel’s bravery in depicting what the philosopher saw as “psychological truths.”

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.