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The Exterminating Angel
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Wikipedia article
'The Exterminating Angel' is a 1962 Mexican surrealist film written and directed by Luis Buuel, starring Silvia Pinal, and produced by her then-husband Gustavo Alatriste. The film follows a group of wealthy guests finding themselves unable to leave after a lavish dinner party, and the chaos that ensues afterward. Sharply satirical and allegorical, the film contains a view of the aristocracy suggesting they "harbor savage instincts and unspeakable secrets".Roger Ebert, [http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-exterminating-angel-1962 'The Exterminating Angel'] , RogerEbert.com, 11 May 1997.
It is considered one of the best 1,000 films by 'The New York Times', and was adapted into an opera in 2016.
Plot
During a formal dinner party at the lavish mansion of Seor Edmundo Nbile and his wife Luca, the servants unaccountably leave their posts until only the majordomo, Julio, is left. After dinner the guests adjourn to the music room, where one of the women, Blanca, plays a piano sonata. Later, when they might normally be expected to return home, the guests curiously remove their jackets, loosen their gowns, and settle down for the night on couches, chairs and the floor.
By morning it is apparent that, for some inexplicable reason, they are unable to leave. The guests consume what little drinks and food are left from the previous night's party. Days pass, and their plight intensifies; they become thirsty, hungry, quarrelsome, hostile, and hysterical. Only Dr. Carlos Conde, applying logic and reason, manages to keep his composure and guide the guests through the ordeal. A guest, the elderly Sergio Russell, dies and his body is placed in a closet so that the others do not start to worry and become more nervous. Later, Batriz and Eduardo, a young engaged couple, lock themselves in a closet and commit suicide.
The guests eventually manage to break a wall open enough to access a water pipe. In the end, several sheep and a bear break loose from their bonds and find their way to the room; the guests take in the sheep and proceed to slaughter and roast them on fires made from floorboards and broken furniture. Dr. Conde tells Nbile that one of his patients, Leonora, is dying of cancer and accepts a secret supply of morphine from his host to keep her pain under control, but the supply is later stolen by siblings Francis and Juana. Ana, who is Jewish and a practitioner of Kabbalah, tries to free the guests by performing a mystical ceremony, which fails.
Eventually, Ral suggests that Nbile is responsible for their predicament and that he must be sacrificed. Only Dr. Conde and the noble Colonel Alvaro oppose the angry mob claiming Nbile's blood. As Nbile offers to take his own life, a young foreign guest, Leticia (nicknamed "La Valkiria") notices that they are all seated in the same positions as when their plight began. Upon her encouragement, the group starts reconstructing their conversation and movements from the night of the party and discover that they are then free to leave the room. Outside the manor, the guests are greeted by the local police and the servants, who had left the house on the night of the party and who had similarly found themselves unable to enter it.
To give thanks for their salvation, the guests attend a 'Te Deum' at the cathedral. When the service is over, the churchgoers along with the clergy are also trapped. It is not entirely clear whether those that were trapped in the house before are now trapped again, as they seem to have disappeared. The situation in the church is followed by a riot on the streets and the military step in to brutally clamp down, firing on the rioters. The last scene shows a flock of sheep entering the church in single file, accompanied by the sound of gunshots.
Cast
in a publicity photograph for the film
Production
Filming
, Xavier Loy, Marilyn Monroe, unknown person in the back, Patricia Morn, Bertha Moss, Nadia Haro Oliva, and Jos Baviera, in the film setThe shooting of the film lasted two months, from January 29 to March 9, 1962. During the trip that American actress Marilyn Monroe made to Mexico, she visited the filming set where the film was being shooted. There she met Luis Buuel, photographer Gabriel Figueroa and the cast members of the film, with whom she took some pictures.
Analysis
Social class
Though Buuel never stated what the symbolism represents, leaving it to the viewer's understanding, American film critic Roger Ebert wrote a lengthy interpretation of the film's symbolism, which includes the following paragraph: "The dinner guests represent the ruling class in Franco's Spain. Having set a banquet table for themselves by defeating the workers in the Spanish Civil War, they sit down for a feast, only to find it never ends. They're trapped in their own bourgeois cul-de-sac. Increasingly resentful at being shut off from the world outside, they grow mean and restless; their worst tendencies are revealed."Roger Ebert, [https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-exterminating-angel-1962 'The Exterminating Angel'], 'RogerEbert.com', 11 May 1997.Scholar Robert Stam notes in his book 'Reflexivity in Film and Literature: From Don Quixote to Jean-Luc Godard' that the film "is structured on the comic formula of a slow descent from normality into anarchy... The "Exterminating Angel" executes a mission of social justice, an apocalyptic laying low of the noble and the powerful."
Influence on horror genre
Samuel Pierce, writing for the horror film website 'Bloody Disgusting', notes 'The Exterminating Angel's influence on the contemporary horror film, writing: "Within the film's already fascinating plot, there's plenty of poignant social commentary that will be just as familiar to horror fans. Though the film can be interpreted a number of ways, many of its themes are undeniable and as relevant today as they ever were. We see isolation drive madness. We see tribes form in times of strife. We see murder become more and more appealing. More than anything, however, The Exterminating Angel explores the hypocrisy of the social elite and the thin strands of society that keep them from utter depravity."Though considered a precursor to many contemporary horror films, some critics have classified 'The Exterminating Angel' as a horror film itself: Jonathan Romney of 'The Guardian' considers the film a straightforward "claustrophobic horror story." Film scholar Jonathan Rosenbaum also classifies 'The Exterminating Angel' as a "comic horror film."
Release and reception
The film premiered at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, and had a general release in Mexico on October 1, 1964.
'El ngel exterminador' received critical acclaim from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 93% approval rating based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 9.0/10.
Awards
This film received the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award of the international critics and the Screenwriters Guild at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. At the 1963 Bodil Awards, the film won the Bodil Award for Best Non-European Film.Home media
The Criterion Collection released 'The Exterminating Angel' on DVD on 10 February 2009. A Blu-ray edition was subsequently issued by Criterion in November 2016.Cultural references
* The title of the 'One Foot in the Grave' episode "The Exterminating Angel" (1995), refers to a scene in which numerous characters are trapped in a conservatory (though unlike the film, they are physically locked in).
* The Creatures' album, 'Anima Animus' (1999), includes a song titled "Exterminating Angel".
* The 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' episode, "Older and Far Away" (2002), references the movie when a set of characters is unable to leave a house after a party. Initially, the characters seems to be psychologically unable to leave, but later the characters desire to leave but physically cannot, due to a spell.
* In the Woody Allen film 'Midnight in Paris' (2011), the main character, Gil, travels back in time to 1920s Paris and suggests a story to a perplexed young Buuel about guests who arrive for a dinner party and cant leave. Allen references the film again in 'Rifkin's Festival' (2020).
* An 1895 sculpture by Josep Llimona, called The Exterminating Angel, can be found in the cemetery of Comillas, Cantabria. Spain. The cemetery is constructed over the remains of a 15th century church.
See also
* 'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' (1972 French film; French: 'Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie') - a later Buuel film with a similar premise and themes
* 'Los ltimos Das' (2013 Spanish film; English: 'The Last Days')
References
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