Surrealist Film: Un Chien Andalou

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Un Chien andalou is considered to be the most renowned surrealist film. It is a cooperative work developed by the two directors Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

According to Allen Thiher’s article entitled Surrealism’s Enduring Bite: Un Chien andalou, is considered as the best known work of surrealist cinema. The known film, Un Chien andalou by Salvador Dali and Buñuel, aims to destroy the rigid rules imposed by the previous “cinematic games”, and to appear as a superior and transformed form of play. In the film, both Dali and Buñuel use parody in order to destroy the filmic conventions that had evolved in the previous years due to the two generations of filmmakers that emerged. The film also plays with the audience’s expectations and this can be seen since the very first scenes of the film. In the firsts sequence of scenes, Buñuel appears with the intention to sever an eye, with the calmness one would have when slicing “a ripe melon”. This specific sequence sets an image of a demolition of the vision that the audience would normally have and expect to find when watching the film. Different titles emerge during the course of the film. The first title to appear on the screen states, “One upon a time”, and tells the audience that it is the first step to a set of different events of the film which will occur and be shown following a chorological order. Both Buñuel and Dali affirm that not every object included in their film has a particular meaning, “ Dali and I would select gags and objects that would happen to come to mind. And we rejected without mercy everything that might mean something. I have kept this taste for the irrational”. The audience can interpret the film in numerous different ways; however, Buñuel affirmed that only ...

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...certain spaces within the scenes. This irrational transition and surprising conjunction is connected to Surrealism. Additionally, it also supports Buñuel’s thoughts on the potential of cinema, “It is the best instrument to express the world of dreams, of emotions, of instinct." Furthermore, most of the analysis of the film have identified the fact the film might be an interpretation of a dream. This consideration has led critics to view the film as a symbolic collection of images, which can reveal various meanings. The possible hidden and mysterious symbols can connect to the middle class behavior, sexual instincts, and anti religious attacks.
In the recent years, critics have shifted their attention and focus on the film’s development and change, and on the methods the film uses in order to convey certain meanings and messages developed by the two directors.

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