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SPAIN · 1974
The Phantom of Liberty
Synopsis
This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.
Cinematic DNA
For me, he is the greatest of them all. He’s very good at putting distance between himself and the material and the characters... And the way he is dealing with the narrative… he is leaving characters after a while and finding new ones. In 'The Phantom of Liberty' (Le fantôme de la liberté, 1974), he leaves a character and then the camera finds another one, and he is very good with that.
It's a bit of an anthology film, with a framework. I guess like, for example, 'The Phantom of Liberty' by Buñuel, there's a feeling of that kind of movie sometimes, where characters just pass the baton, so to speak.
— Wes Anderson · IndieWire, "Wes Anderson on the ‘French Dispatch’ Opening and 6-Year Wait for Another Animated Film"
More from Luis Buñuel
Spain
Films with Similar Themes
surrealism · social absurdity · taboo subjects · institutional critique · fragmented narrative
