Luis Buñuel orchestrates consistent unpredictability through narrative pivots and tonal shifts in his satirical masterpiece that won France an Oscar for International Feature Film and received a nomination for Original Screenplay, co-written by Jean-Claude Carrière. A series of happenings sewn together amid a relatively consistent motif is driven by the six French bourgeois who persistently pursue a dinner plan that is repeatedly interrupted by random incidents. In this repetitive digression, the value of the earnest pursuit becomes trivial, exposing the absurdity of the characters’ thoughtless actions.

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