User reviews

Made in 1952, between "Robinson Crusoe" and "Wuthering Heights," this may not be one of Bunuel's major films, but it contains several of his key themes and recurring images, starting with the ceremonial washing and kissing of feet. The film also goes into the politics of submission and domination, the effects of long-term sexual repression, and -- of course -- sewing.

Bunuel understood obsession and was able to convey it on screen like no other director. As irrational as his characters can get (and Francisco gets plenty irrational in this film), Bunuel knows that we all have our hangups which seem normal to us, no matter how grotesque they may look to an outside viewer. (There's a reason why the alternate title for this film is "This Strange Passion.")

One of Bunuel's best films, and certainly the finest of his lesser-known work. An intense, gripping study of a man who goes from merely asshole to outright insane, perhaps driven just a bit by his fondness for feet (the film's alternate title is "This Strange Passion"). In a powerhouse performance by Arturo de Cordova, Francisco is jealous, irrational, impulsive, self-centered, paranoid, delusional, megalomaniacal, misanthropic and sadistic. Bunuel leaves it up to the viewer to imagine what he's doing to Julia as we hear her tormented screams echo through the mansion... or what he has in mind when he sneaks into her room with a rope, a razor blade and a pair of scissors. Bunuel isn't known for flashy cinematography, but he always knows exactly where to place the camera, and the film's visual style gets more and more noir-ish as Francisco descends deeper into his obsessive madness. There's a subversive quality and almost a black comedy to it, like a Wyler melodrama with a perverted twist. The film begins and ends in a church, a symbol of sexual repression and false ideals, and the brilliant final shot suggests how much it feeds into Francisco's psychosis.

As his most technically accomplished Mexican-period movie, and almost a mainstream one, this film can be an enjoyable first introduction into Buñuel's obsessions: the same ones that ruled the surrealistic movement. The underground psychological streams in the mind are finely expressed in this story of a pathological jealous and his victim. In his Mexican exile, Buñuel was forced to make "nourishing movies", that were the most conventional ones in his filmography, but he managed to smuggle his surrealistic ideals into all of them (even he could make the absolutely surrealistic "The Exterminating Angel").

Based on an autobiographic novel by Spanish fellow countrywoman Mercedes Pinto, this film is the vehicle for displaying many marvelous surreal moments. It can also be viewed as a brilliant clinical recreation of paranoid distress, but Buñuel recognized that the protagonist, Francisco Galván, although insane, had many of his own obsessions: his view of love as an absolute imperative, the violent impulses, the fetishism for female feet…The story shifts from one point of view to another, which is the only way to understand the "two stories" in psychotic disorders.

Part of the story and many of the ideas were used later by Hitchcock for his masterpiece "Vertigo (From among the dead)". It is difficult to say plagiarism when talking about cinema, but this would be one occasion for it. It is not coincidence that both directors share a taste for the expressive properties of objects (not only as Macguffin); as two reluctantly catholic directors, objects usually act as "sacraments" for their narrative. In "El" the church and its symbols are the background for the repression and the blooming of instincts; other Buñuel's stories may be more connected with religion than this one, but "El" shows a life absolutely permeated by the relationship of primary impulses ("eros" and "thanatos") with spiritual transcend ency. With churches as the setting of the key moments of the story (desire, love encounter, the urge for murder, disappointment), church is at the beginning and the ending of this story narrated by the man who said "Thank God, I'm an atheist".

Although was filmed in three weeks, in the midst of the limitations of Mexican film industry, the movie is close to perfection in formal terms. In contrast with his previous movies, in which a still camera was predominant, in this one the camera movements are constant. The performances and the choice of cast is the most accurate of the Buñuel's Mexican-period.

Although slightly more melodramatic, I feel this does have the edge over the later, 'Criminal Life of Archibaldo de La Cruz', which covers similar territory with more humour. A gripping and frightening tale of obsession that has a surprisingly large amount of echoes of Hitchcock's later, 'Vertigo' and seemingly that director took the bell tower sequence in its entirety. Still, who cares, great films remain great films, even when their inspiration may be revealed. The ending is low key but we are left in little doubt as to the state of mind of our hero/villain. Great performances help what might have seemed a preposterous tale, ring only too true. Probably best watched after Archibaldo, then the impact will be all the more great.

This tale of a pathologically jealous husband, whose delusions of cuckoldry teeter over the edge into madness, ranks with BELLE DE JOUR and the early surrealist films as the first rank of the Bunuel canon. The ending, which has audiences screaming out loud in a mixture of gruesome delight and horror, would probably drive Brian DePalma to death by alcohol if he saw it. Brian, don't watch, okay?

This was the first film I decided to watch from director Luis Bunuel and I had no idea what to expect from EL going into it, but it really intrigued me in different ways -- not only with the general story, but also in the visual style with which it was realized. There were surprises at every turn, and the acting by the leading man Arturo de Cordova was superb. What began as a pretty standard-looking (though nicely photographed) soap opera wound up transforming into a striking melodrama with some oddly disturbing moments. I don't know how indicative this one movie is of Luis Bunuel's general approach, but if the others are anywhere near as interesting, I look forward to trying them out. He seems ahead of his time, judging by this film.

*** out of ****

"This Strange Passion" or ¨El¨ deals with Francisco (Arturo De Cordoba) is a rich man , rather strict on rules , and still a bachelor . After meeting Gloria Milata (Delia Garces), he thinks her the adequate woman and he is determined to marry her, and succeeds in winning her away from her fiancée, Raul Conde (Beristain) . The honeymoon and the following months have an unnerving effect on Gloria along with Francisco's rigid principles . She learns her husband results to be an irrationally jealous man . Francisco is a dedicated husband, but step by step his passion shows to exhibit paranoia and disturbing traits .

Another film masterpiece by the director of the prize-winning "The Young and the Damned" , being shot in three weeks by the great Luis Buñuel who even makes a cameo appearance as one of the monks. This rare movie is largely considered a Luis Buñuel's masterpiece . It is packed with thought-provoking drama, surreal moments , jealousy , criticism , paranoia and religious elements about Catholic Church ; furthermore Buñuel satirizies and outright attacks bourgeois lifestyles . Good acting by Arturo De Cordoba as the wealthy, religious and leery middle-aged Francisco Galván as well as Delia Garces as suffering spouse . This splendid Buñuel film was nominated Grand Prize in Cannes Film Festival (1953). Good and atmospheric cinematography by excellent Mexican cameraman Gabriel Figueroa , though being necessary a perfect remastering .

The motion picture was stunningly directed by the genius Luis Buñuel who was voted the 14th Greatest Director of all time . Moving to Mexico in the late 1940s, he teamed up with producer Óscar Dancigers and after a couple of unmemorable efforts shot back to international attention with the lacerating study of Mexican street urchins in ¨Los Olvidados¨ (1950), winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. He subsequently produced ¨Don Quintin Amargado¨ , ¨El Bruto¨, El¨, ¨Abismos De Pasion¨ , ¨Robinson Crusoe¨ , among others . But despite this new-found acclaim, Buñuel spent much of the next decade working on a variety of ultra-low-budget films, few of which made much impact outside Spanish-speaking countries , though many of them are well worth seeking out . After returning his native country, Spain, by making 'Viridiana' but this film was prohibited on the grounds of blasphemy, then Buñuel with his screenwriter Julio Alejandro go back Mexico where realizes in low budget 'Simon of the desert' and produced by Gustavo Alatriste . Buñuel went on directing in France where filmed other masterpieces such as ¨Belle De Jour¨, "The Milky Way" , "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" , "The Phantom of Liberty" , his last picture was "That Obscure Object of Desire" shot in Spain .

In Mexico, the wealthy, religious and leery middle-aged Francisco Galván (Arturo de Córdova) is battling in the justice to retrieve the possession of real-estates that belonged to his ancestors in the beginning of the Twentieth Century. When he sees the young Gloria Milalta (Delia Garcés) in the church, he becomes obsessed by the woman, unsuccessfully courting and stalking her. He follows her and sees Gloria with her fiancé and his acquaintance, the engineer Raul Conde, having lunch in a restaurant. Francisco schedules a ball in his mansion and invites Raul and along the night, he seduces Gloria. They get married and in the honeymoon, Gloria discovers that Francisco is virgin and has a sick jealousy for her. Along the years, the emotionally unbalanced Francisco oscillates between a passionate husband and a disturbed paranoid until the day Gloria leaves him and he has a mental breakdown.

"El" is a very simple and melodramatic film of Luis Buñuel about sick jealousy and paranoia. The plot shows the usual trademark of this great director, with religious element and the surrealistic paranoia of the lead character in the church, but is not original like most of his features. Arturo de Córdova and Delia Garcés have stunning performances, giving credibility to their characters. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Alucinado" ("The Hallucinated One")

Straightforward Bunuel movie in which a wealthy man's marriage to a beautiful woman triggers an obsessive jealousy which quickly leads to his mental disintegration. The plot is straight out of a soap opera (and not without holes) but is redeemed by Bunuel's complete control. A scene in which the antagonist feverishly imagines the derision of the members of a church congregation is wonderfully typical of Bunuel's skewed touch, and the final shot is strangely disturbing.

"El" is still one of Luis Bunuel's greatest films. It is a story of obsession and jealousy and how obsession can lead to madness, (or is obsession itself a form of madness?), and it's relentless. It begins on Holy Thursday at mass when Don Francisco spies a young woman in the church. He follows her outside and though she's engaged to a friend of his, he pursues her and marries her and on their wedding night she discovers just how jealous he can be. Ultimately this jealousy has terrible consequences.

Of course, Don Francisco happens to be a pillar of society and the church and this is another devastating attack on Catholicism and on hypocrisy by its director. It is in many ways a horror film and is all the more disturbing for being so grounded in the everyday. As the mad Don Francisco, Arturo De Cordova is superb; it is, without doubt, the greatest role of his career while the beautiful Delia Garces perfectly captures the spirit of the terrified wife. Amazingly, it is one of the least revived of all Bunuel's films despite being up there with "Nazarin" and "Viridiana". A masterpiece that would make a great double bill with Hitchcock's "Vertigo", (it's the most self-consciously Hitchcockian of all of Bunuel's films).

I've wanted to see this film for years but have missed it several times in the past. This time I picked it up on You Tube of all places so now I've seen all of Bunuel's "Mexican" films.

I suppose I was hoping for more. Some of the earliest Mexican films were pretty standard fare - not much to be detected from "L'Age d'Or" or anything like that. Bunuel had to cooperate with the standard melodramas of the day to get his films made in Mexico. Occasionally his special eccentricities would come out of the woodwork but not often enough for me. This film was released by Columbia Pictures which means Harry Cohn and Cohn was truly a monster for any director to work with. There are some pot shots at the church throughout and "l'amour fou" so close to the director but there was precious little humor in this one.

I felt the film didn't always know where to go. It describes obsession in detail and conveys it extremely well with talented performances. The "Vertigo" stretch was a bit much for me. Both films dealt with obsessive men and had scenes in bell towers but there couldn't be any mistaking Bunuel for Hitchcock or the other way around, nor how the two directors treated it in such vastly different ways.

Curtis Stotlar

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This film was directed by the famous Luis Buñuel, recognized Spanish film maker that came to México and created a great bunch of surrealistic films (some too sordid for that decade). The truth is, that maybe this picture is good, but too negative for the people that like the great flirting romantic image of Arturo de Córdova: An icon for the following contemporary romantic gentlemen of the "Mexican Golden Age".

This film deals with the inner side of a man that let us see his jealous feelings and a sickness love between the central actor Arturo de Córdova and his co protagonist Delia Garces; taking them to a violent relationship that ended in a tragedy...

Following your advice, I recently 'relented' to buying from Alapage the two Luis Bunuel Double-Feature discs released in France by Film Sans Frontieres. After watching them in their entirety, I cannot believe that I, who consider Bunuel my all-time favorite director and one of the true masters of the medium, have waited this long to acquire these DVDs. Actually while Alapage listed these DVDs at EUR25.73 on their site, they only cost me EUR21.51 each (excluding EUR12 shipping charges). So, if there is still anybody who has not purchased them yet, now may be the time to do so!

Since I had never watched EL (1952) before, it was the first one to go through my DVD player. It was a chilling parable of an insanely jealous middle-aged man played with acute intensity by Arturo De Cordova. It afforded Bunuel ample opportunity to make practical use of overt Freudian symbolism without lending the film a heavy-handed air of pretentiousness. While there are some critics who consider it as merely 'an engaging, minor work', I regard it as being among Bunuel's finest; arguably, with this film, Bunuel reached the culmination of his work in Mexico, but it also looks forward to similar sequences and themes he would tackle later on in his career, especially TRISTANA (1970) and, his last film, THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (1977).

EL was beautifully abetted by another of his low-budget Mexican films, the great black comedy THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ (1955). Again, critical reception was a bit muted in some circles, dismissing it as 'just a throwaway oddity' typical of Bunuel's films of the period. However, it is much more than that: it is certainly very funny if you can accept its macabre sense of humor. It allowed Bunuel to create some of the most memorable images in all of his films, especially the celebrated dummy incineration scene, which could have been "inspired" by a similar scene in Michael Curtiz's marvelous MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933) which Bunuel must have seen while working at Warner Bros. in the Thirties. A similar instance of this eclectic approach on Bunuel's part can be found in the "walking hand" sequence in his THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962) - one of my favorite Bunuels - which harks back to an identical premise in Robert Florey's THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946), another Warner Bros. horror melodrama. For me, one of the enduring assets of THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ is the charm and great beauty that was Miroslava Stern (who played the part of Lavinia and was the model for the ill-fated dummy). Tragically, she would take her own life a mere two weeks after the film's release with her body, ironically enough, ending up cremated!

Both the print utilized and the transfer for both films were adequate enough, and perfectly acceptable under the circumstances. However, EL's overall visual and aural qualities where distinctly superior to those of ARCHIBALDO which suffered from excessive specks and slight audio dropouts at times, but were never so alarming as to dispel from one's viewing pleasure of the film.

I had these words by Alex Epstein in mind when I left the theater. Before I went to watch Él I knew Hitchcock had taken a bit to draw Vertigo. Well, it's not simply a bit.

Buñuel's style is both graceful and low-key. It's a pity this made his work less obviously marvelous to masses. On the other hand if there is something lacking in Él this is a gripping suspense. Something Hitch mastered with his will to enthrall masses. Buñuel's directing is more on the side of actors for us to hesitate between judging the characters and just waiting for more... which is exactly the theme.

Bringing psychological torments to screen is definitely not easy a directing choice . It's a challenge for the upper-crust and I remember Hitchcock's Spellbound was not really convincing, neither was Fritz Lang's Secret beyond the door. Yet each brought something to be chewed for others to experiment.

This is based upon the novel by Mercedes Pinto whose own husband was institutionalised after developing a mental disorder. Director Luis Bunuel also utilised his own experience of having a paranoid brother-in-law and freely admitted that he himself and the character of Francisco shared similar traits!

This is certainly one of Bunuel's finest black comedies and arguably the best film from his Mexican period. It is also one of his most 'personal' as regards his apparent sympathy for an insanely jealous husband who makes his young wife's life a living hell and is only prevented in the nick of time from binding her hands with ropes before doing her unspeakable damage with a needle and thread! In fact one critic observed that not since 'L'Age d'Or' had Bunuel been as close to de Sade. Also on display here are the misogyny, manic obsession, amour fou and loathing of the Catholic Church without which no work of Bunuel would be complete.

The role of Francisco is a gift to any actor brave enough to take it on and the casting of Mexican heart-throb Arturo de Cordova is a masterstroke. He had already played a mentally disturbed character in 'Crepuscolo' in 1945 and this role is a natural progression. Stunning performance. As his long suffering spouse Delia Garces captures brilliantly the sweetness and resignation that he finds so appealing.

This piece was not well-received at Cannes and the jury showed a lamentable lack of judgement in dismissing it as a bad 'B'-picture! It remains however the most definitive depiction of a paranoic's descent into madness and proves once again that although Bunuel is customarily labelled a 'surrealist' he is first and foremost a superb film technician and a master of his craft.

Few other directors found as much humor in the perversity of human nature than Luis Buñuel, whose sharp eye and subtle wit could transform a routine romantic potboiler into a black comedy of psychosexual obsession. True love, in a Buñuel film, is not far removed from madness, and when Cupid's poisoned arrow strikes a wealthy bachelor in this too frugal quickie production (made during the director's long Mexican exile) it leaves him in a violent, irrational temper. Everyone knows him as a pious, well-mannered aristocrat, but after the love struck blueblood woos and wins the girl of his dreams he becomes, slowly but surely, a jealous monster. The transformation would be pathetic if it wasn't so extreme: his fits of paranoia are funny because they're so typical, but frightening because they're so accurate. Buñuel charts his mounting insanity in an assured, deceptively straightforward style, pausing as always to deliver a few well-aimed punches at the Catholic Church and other sacred institutions.

If your idea of entertainment is watching a woman's psychological and physical abuse at the hands of a sick man, you are going to have a ball with "El". It is well-made, still timely (sadly), with a compelling performance by Arturo De Cordova and a darkly hilarious hallucinatory sequence set inside a church near the end, but it's also one-note, as the viewer is put in the uncomfortable position of waiting for the next assault on and humiliation of Gloria, because there is nothing else really to occupy his or her mind. Claude Chabrol's "L'Enfer" (1994) is a very similar film to this, and imho a superior one. **1/2 out of 4.

EL, in Spanish means "he", in this Buñuel's film, he is Francisco (de Córdova), an unmarried middle age bourgeois man, who is first seen as an assistant during a church ceremony in Mexico City, he is pouring water in the basin when Father Velasco (Baena) prepares to wash the feet of a young boy, and a close-up is zoomed in as Father kisses the foot he just washed, before another shot aiming a pair of female feet, the svelte legs then reveals they belong to a fine-looking woman Gloria (Garcés), whom Francisco falls for at first glance, lust stems from the sight of a pair of feet. So in hindsight, the tongue-in-cheek reference of feet fetish not just insinuates one of Francisco's essential quality is his religious fervour, but also incriminates religion as a main cause in his paranoid psyche. Seeing that it is also in the church, Francisco finally discharges all his rage over the tipping point, towards whom? Father Velasco, his dearest friend.

The plot is a fairly conceivable, Gloria is recently return from Argentina with her mother (Walker) and is engaged with an architect Raúl (Beristáin), who turns out to be Francisco's acquaintance. Thus, by throwing a lavish dinner party in his immense villa, Francisco cunningly wins her over by his dedicated idea of true love should germinate from the very first sight (of course, his wealth and debonair flair also tip the scales). Then the time-line forwards a unspecified period of time, when a distraught Gloria seeks help from Raúl, the flashback unveils what is actually underneath the urbane facade of Francisco after they get married during that spell.

Being an objectionable composite of wanton jealousy, paranoia, male chauvinism, self- centeredness, wanting confidence as a competent lover and overbearing self-respect "nothing I hate more than happy morons", Francisco is played out as a complete obnoxious character far far away beyond any redemption, while Gloria's own safety slowly but surely slides down into an ominous menace, to a point we wonder why she is still willing to live with him (a lavish villa is difficult to jolt, one may say). This is Buñuel in the mid-stream of his career, applies a more discreet visual style to this unsophisticated narrative, the showiest parts strike when Francisco totally loses his sanity, the irregular shooting angles, two different worlds (surreal and real) alternately materialise in front of him, honed up to a thrilling tension with Luis Hernández Bretón's arresting score.

Arturo de Córdova's performance is sterling despite of Francisco is the impossible sort to invite compassion, utterly compelling when he betrays his deep-rooted vulnerability, although he is deeply in love with Gloria, he is unable to love, cannot even pull off his evil attempt of murder, an out-and-out weakling, subverted by his bourgeois upbringings and religious influence, monastery is the fitting final settling place for him. Delia Garcés's Gloria, adopts a comely appearance but hampered by her own indecision and subservience to a patriarchal supremacy, which society casts on women at that time, she is spellbound to watch when she finally opens up about all her suffering. Apart from an expert study on paranoia, the film is a telling lesson that every young woman should sensibly set a stint of observation period when a seemingly-perfect middled-aged bachelor proposes to you, and it is a safe bet that there is something iffy about him, personality-or-peculiarity-wise.

Rarely has a journey into madness so convincingly and so brilliantly been filmed. Luis Buñuel's directing and the playing of the actors, Arturo de Córdova and Delia Garcés, are simply magnificent, as was his crew, with Gabriel Figueroa as primus inter pares.

The obsessions (jealousy, suspicion, greed) of the main character of the movie burst into plain paranoia in one of the most hilarious/dramatic sequences ever shot in the history of the motion picture. The end comes as a shock when the main character appears in a most unexpected disguise. Luis Buñuel used shocks (an eminent trick of the surrealists) time and again in many of his movies in order to derange and provoke the spectators. Of course, the main intrigue of the movie is a variation on the age old male nightmare of raising unknowingly the offspring of other men. This bright movie is a must see for all movie buffs.

cold, strange, cruel. like majority of Bunuel films. a window to darkness. and too realistic to be only shadow of fiction. it is a good film. and, in many senses, picture of our time. the ball of paranoia and love as scary, the need to control and menace, the desire and the series of masks, the fragility and the madness as form of control, all is, piece by piece, ingredient of our society. this is the secret for who the movie remains impressive. and for who the genius of its director is basis for an inspired art circle. it is a definition of happiness search. and proof of a splendid science of details. a story. and result of an entomologist observations. is it enough ? sure. in measure to be one of the characters.

Fellini, Bunuel, Forman, Kubrick, are the best of the best! Everyone original and great great artists all. After 67 years, "El" is a solid piece in the selection of the best movies of all time. Captivating story, similar to Othello's Shakespeare, impeccable director, high-class acting. A very well made sad movie.