The Exterminating Angel

Wealthy guests come back from the opera and sit down to dinner in a mansion. The evening ends and nobody can leave the drawing room. There is no lock and no obstacle; people simply cannot cross the threshold. Buñuel never explained how the film should be read and left it to each viewer. Interpretations have run from class conflict to social hypocrisy. Its strangest formal decision is repetition. The guests arrive and climb the stairs twice, and certain exchanges recur word for word. This is not a continuity error but a deliberate way of producing a sense of cyclical time. It was produced in Mexico by Gustavo Alatriste and shot by Gabriel Figueroa at Estudios Churubusco between 29 January and 9 March 1962, in just 54 days. Silvia Pinal, who plays Leticia, was among the country's biggest stars and was married to the producer. It premiered at Cannes on 16 May 1962 and won the FIPRESCI Prize, only reaching Mexican cinemas in 1964. Who it is for: viewers who like films that refuse to explain themselves, and satire aimed at the bourgeoisie. Who it is not for: anyone who needs cause and effect. The film will not even say what the problem is, and that is the trap.