REQUIRED HOME VIEWING (exam material)

Un Chien Andalou  & L'Age d'Or

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THESE TWO FILMS by Luis Bunuel (with Spanish artist, Salvador Dali) are two of the most famous experimental films ever made. They should be seen by every film student.
    Both Un Chien Andalou (1928/29) and L'Age d'Or (1930) must be viewed in the context of the movement called Surrealism, influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud, theories of the Unconscious, and dream imagery. Strictly speaking they are surrealist, hence have no logic. But the mind seems programmed to find continuity and sequential logic in almost anything. So critics have written voluminously trying to find thematic (usually sexual) ideas in these two films.
    Of course there are some links among characters and images, but whether those links are "thematic" (to develop an idea) is another issue. For now, viewing these two Surrealist films will help prepare you for the Surrealist "logic" in Bunuel's later films, such as The Phantom of Liberty (1974).
    The English translations of the two films are An Andalusian Dog and The Golden Age (The Age of Gold). But they're almost always referred to in their original French titles, especially in the case of Un Chien Andalou.
    Un Chien Andalou is in two segments on youtube, for about 25 minutes. L'age d'Or is longer, in eight segments. I gave you only the first segment for each, since other segments usually appear on youtube seriatim (one after the other). The death's head moth that appears in Un Chien Andalou influenced the poster design for Silence of the Lambs.

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