L'Âge d'Or
Encyclopedia
L'Âge d'or is a 1930 surrealist
film
directed by Spanish
filmmaker Luis Buñuel
and written by him and Salvador Dalí
.
The film began as a second collaboration with Dalí, but, by the time the film went into production, Buñuel and Dalí had had a falling-out, and so Dalí actually had nothing to do with the actual making of L'Âge d'Or. During this film, Buñuel worked around his technical ignorance by filming mostly in sequence and using nearly every foot of film that he shot. It has generally been seen as a scathing attack on bourgeois society and the Roman Catholic Church
.
the toe of a religious statue.
In the final vignette, the place card narration tells of an orgy of 120 days of depraved acts -- a reference to the Marquis de Sade
's 1785 novel 120 Days of Sodom
-- and tells us that the survivors of the orgy are ready to emerge. From the door of a castle emerges the Duc de Blangis (a character from 120 Days), who strongly resembles Christ
, with his long robes and beard. When a young girl runs out of the castle, the Duc comforts the girl, before taking her back into the castle. A scream is heard and the Duc emerges again, his beard mysteriously vanished. The film suddenly cuts to its final image, with the scalps of the women flapping in the wind on a crucifix, accompanied by jovial music.
It has been said that this, along with scenes of violent expression earlier in the film as the lovestruck protagonist is manhandled along by two enforcers, may suggest that the film's message is that sexual repression, whether propagated by civil bourgeois society or by the church, breeds violence. This scene is alluded to in the opening sequence, which is an excerpt from a short science film about a scorpion
. There we are informed that scorpions have five prismatic articulations, culminating in a stinger. Film critic Ado Kyrou claimed the five sections of the scorpion represent the film's five sections.
to produce and was financed by the nobleman Vicomte Charles de Noailles
, who beginning in 1928 commissioned a film every year for the birthday of his wife Marie-Laure de Noailles
. When it was first released, there was a storm of protest. The film premiered at Studio 28 in Paris
on 29 November 1930 after receiving its permit from the Board of Censors.
League of Patriots
threw ink at the screen during a screening of the film, assaulted members of the audience, and destroyed art works by Dalí, Joan Miró
, Man Ray
, Yves Tanguy
and others on display in the lobby.
On 10 December, the Prefect of Police of Paris, Jean Chiappe
, arranged to have the film banned after the Board of Censors reviewed the film. A contemporary Spanish
newspaper condemned the film as “...the most repulsive corruption of our age... the new poison which Judaism
, masonry
, and rabid, revolutionary sectarianism want to use in order to corrupt the people.”
The Noailles family pulled the film from distribution for nearly 50 years. In 1933, it was screened at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York City
, but the film did not have its official United States premiere until 1–15 November 1979 at the Roxie Cinema
in San Francisco.
The film's illustrations were created by Luis Ortiz Rosales
.
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
filmmaker Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
and written by him and Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
.
The film began as a second collaboration with Dalí, but, by the time the film went into production, Buñuel and Dalí had had a falling-out, and so Dalí actually had nothing to do with the actual making of L'Âge d'Or. During this film, Buñuel worked around his technical ignorance by filming mostly in sequence and using nearly every foot of film that he shot. It has generally been seen as a scathing attack on bourgeois society and the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Plot summary
The film consists of a series of tightly interlinked vignettes, the most sustained of which details the story of a man and a woman who are passionately in love. Their attempts to consummate their passion are constantly thwarted, by their families, by the Church and bourgeois society in general. In one notable scene, the young girl passionately fellatesFellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
the toe of a religious statue.
In the final vignette, the place card narration tells of an orgy of 120 days of depraved acts -- a reference to the Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
's 1785 novel 120 Days of Sodom
120 Days of Sodom
The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinism is a novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in 1785...
-- and tells us that the survivors of the orgy are ready to emerge. From the door of a castle emerges the Duc de Blangis (a character from 120 Days), who strongly resembles Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, with his long robes and beard. When a young girl runs out of the castle, the Duc comforts the girl, before taking her back into the castle. A scream is heard and the Duc emerges again, his beard mysteriously vanished. The film suddenly cuts to its final image, with the scalps of the women flapping in the wind on a crucifix, accompanied by jovial music.
It has been said that this, along with scenes of violent expression earlier in the film as the lovestruck protagonist is manhandled along by two enforcers, may suggest that the film's message is that sexual repression, whether propagated by civil bourgeois society or by the church, breeds violence. This scene is alluded to in the opening sequence, which is an excerpt from a short science film about a scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
. There we are informed that scorpions have five prismatic articulations, culminating in a stinger. Film critic Ado Kyrou claimed the five sections of the scorpion represent the film's five sections.
Production
The film cost a million francsFrench franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
to produce and was financed by the nobleman Vicomte Charles de Noailles
Charles de Noailles
Charles de Noailles , Arthur Anne Marie Charles, Vicomte de Noailles was a French nobleman and patron of the arts.-Biography:...
, who beginning in 1928 commissioned a film every year for the birthday of his wife Marie-Laure de Noailles
Marie-Laure de Noailles
Marie-Laure de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles , was one of the 20th century's most daring and influential patrons of the arts, noted for her associations with Salvador Dalí, Balthus, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Francis Poulenc, Jean Hugo, Jean-Michel Frank and others as well as her...
. When it was first released, there was a storm of protest. The film premiered at Studio 28 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on 29 November 1930 after receiving its permit from the Board of Censors.
Response
On 3 December 1930, a group of incensed members of the fascistFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
League of Patriots
Ligue des Patriotes
The Ligue des Patriotes was a French far right league, founded in 1882 by the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède, historian Henri Martin, and Felix Faure. The Ligue began as a non-partisan nationalist league calling for 'revanche' against Germany, and literally means "League of Patriots"...
threw ink at the screen during a screening of the film, assaulted members of the audience, and destroyed art works by Dalí, Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, Yves Tanguy
Yves Tanguy
Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy , known as Yves Tanguy, was a French surrealist painter.-Biography:Tanguy was born in Paris, France, the son of a retired navy captain. His parents were both of Breton origin...
and others on display in the lobby.
On 10 December, the Prefect of Police of Paris, Jean Chiappe
Jean Chiappe
Jean Baptiste Pascal Eugène Chiappe was a high-ranking French civil servant.Chiappe was director of the Sûreté générale in the 1920s. He was subsequently given the post of Préfet de police in the 1930s, in which role he was very popular...
, arranged to have the film banned after the Board of Censors reviewed the film. A contemporary Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
newspaper condemned the film as “...the most repulsive corruption of our age... the new poison which Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, masonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, and rabid, revolutionary sectarianism want to use in order to corrupt the people.”
The Noailles family pulled the film from distribution for nearly 50 years. In 1933, it was screened at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, but the film did not have its official United States premiere until 1–15 November 1979 at the Roxie Cinema
The Roxie
The Roxie Theater is a movie theater at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco built in 1909. It is also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie.-History:...
in San Francisco.
Cast
- Gaston ModotGaston ModotGaston Modot was a French actor. For more than 50 years he performed for the cinema working with a number of French directors....
as The Man - Lya LysLya LysLya Lys , was a German-born Jewish-American actress of French-Russian decent who had a brief career in Hollywood.-Biography:...
as the Young Girl - Caridad de Laberdesque as a Chambermaid and Little Girl
- Max ErnstMax ErnstMax Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
as the Leader of men in cottage - Josep Llorens Artigas as (Governor)
- Lionel Salem as Duke of Blangis
- Germaine Noizet as Marquise
- Duchange as Conductor
The film's illustrations were created by Luis Ortiz Rosales
Luis Ortiz Rosales
Luis Ortiz Rosales was a Spanish illustrator, draughtsman, painter, and graphic artist. Born in the Canary Islands, he created numerous posters and drawings that earned him national fame...
.
External links
- L'Âge d'or at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...