L'Age d'Or

So while Wikipedia-ing the Marquis de Sade I somehow stumbled upon the 1930 surrealist film L'Age d'Or, written by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. After a quick YouTube search I found the entire film online and decided to give it a shot.

As with most surrealist work, there is an element of questionable imagery and deep rooted meaning to most of the work, and this film is no exception. The overall plot of the film is following a couple through various scenarios in which they just narrowly miss being able to be together and make love. There are also many religious, specifically that of Christian nature, swipes in the movie, be it dead priests, a murderous Jesus figure, etc; point is it is quite a remarkable movie.

The film begins with footage of scorpions in the wild, fighting one another and even taking on an adventurous rat. The text screens explain how the scorpion is a vicious creature that is both dangerous and evil, and how once it has done its deeds for the day it retreats from the world underground like a true menace.

After the battle between the scorpion and rat, a new scene appears "some hours later", depicting a wounded country militant, draped in shredded clothes and a covered in dirt atop of a rocky hill looking across the land at a group of priests in ritual. Startled by his discovery the man treks down the mountain, limping and falling until he finally makes it back to a rundown shelter at the bottom of the canyon. This shelter is found to house similar dilapidated men, all malnourished and wounded, yielding weapons. Once the man enters the shelter he tells his peers of his discovery, and at once they all brandish weapons and limp their way towards the priests. As the wounded men make the agonizing voyage up the mountainside they begin to feel the effects of fatigue and collapse along the way, some even crawling on the ground to follow the troop. The camera focuses on a man who has made it a good distance up the face taking a break, leaning up against the rocks, and with that the scene fades to black.

When the film comes back together we see a fleet of small ships entering a channel similar in terrain to that of the previous scene. As the passengers unload off the ships a small mob begins to form, and slowly they make their way through the rough mountanous terrain. Once the entire group has made it to the platea of the range they all stop in their tracks, for the bones of the former priests' bones rest embedded along the path they were seen at in the previous scene. The crowd takes off their hats and has a moment of silence for the fallen priests, and once this is done the entire body surrounds a square stone in the middle of the clearing. As the officials start to announce to the crowd a faint moan is heard in the distance, and as the crowd begins to turn around in horror they find a couple making out and heavily petting one another in the mud. Shocked by this the crowd rushes the couple and pulls them apart. This is where we get our first glimpse of our main characters, for these two are seen several times throughout the movie. Once the two are separated the man is pressed to the ground, to which he lifts his head and images of the woman inside a home appear before his eyes, followed by scenes of colossal landslides and spewing magma. After being ripped back into reality by the mob, the man is stood up and walked away from the crowd, only to break free a few steps in when he hears a dog barking in the distance. Once he breaks free from the men he turns back to the crowd and kicks the dog with sheer hatred, sending it flying into the mob. The men quickly grab the man again and lead him away from the crowd once again, this time with success. Once the troublemaker is gone the officials turn their attentions once again to the square stone they are all huddled around and declare that it is the ground-breaking stone for their new settlement.

As the man is walked further and further away from the mob, he notices a beetle walking across a stone and struggles his way off path just so he can stomp on the insect, killing it instantly. As the three men walk off into the distance the film goes black and transitions to the mob once again circling the stone. As the officials lay concrete on top of the stone to mark the beginning of building, a text screen appears confirming the notion that the building block "marks the foundation of the city of..." to which the next screen concludes: "Imperial Rome". Arial footage of Rome and the Vatican fill the screen and conclude with a shot of a note left on the door of Roman household, nothing that "the landlord's terms are very favourable. We can move in at once. Longing to see you, very soon now. Your loving cousin".

A modern shot of the car filled Roman streets is shown and a text screen appears to explain that the "hurly-burly of modern live has overtaken the Imperial City" and more shots of congested streets are shown. The following scenes make up a confusing look of the city: a man dressed in a business suit walking alongside a cafe, only to stop and dust himself off and continue on as usual; an abandoned section of town being demolished house by house, shots of historic fountains, statues and doors. A man is then seen walking down the sidewalk kicking a violin as he walks, only to stop on it and continue his way. The scene transitions to a man walking in a vacant overgrown field wearing what appears to be a large loaf of bread on his head. As the man walks through the field he passes a statue of Jesus recounting from the bible, wearing the same bread loaf type object on his head and soon the screen goes black.

It is at this point that the two men escorting the man from earlier come back into the story. As the three walk down the modern residential sidewalk they suddenly stop when the troublemaker stops to gawk at a poster affixed to a fence. The poster is a picture of a woman's hand reaching towards a drawn in cupcake, but upon closer inspection the man transforms the poster into a moving image of a woman's hand circling in a girating motion around a now tuft of hair instead of a cupcake, giving in my eyes the idea of a woman pleasuring herself. But I could be wrong here.Just as he gets excited his two guards push him along and they continue their trek. As they continue to walk down the sidewalk the man stops to gawk at yet another sign, this time attached to a passerby that shows an image of a woman's legs. As they continue to walk into the busy modern city they pass by a storefront window and the man again stops the trio to look at a poster, this time of a woman sitting in a chair. As the man looks over the image it soon transforms into his love, sitting in a similar chair in a similar fashion seductivly laying on a couch inside of some unknown room. The two men push him back into the trot and the men resume their trip. The image of his love is then repeated, but this time it continues and proves to be a real time perspective of the woman where she currently resides. As she walks through an elegant mansion she walks into a room with her mother and picks up a book. As she begins to read her mother notices her daughter's finger is bandaged, and after asking what happened the woman simply responds that it has been sore for over a week. She then engages with her mother about the details of a party they are throwing and how they plan to have the layout be of the house band. With this the conversation ends and she leaves the room, as she enters a new room of the house she notices a cow sleeping in her bed and after awkwardly shuffling the cow into the closet she sits down and begins to file her nails.

The film shoots back to the three men walking down the street and as the three men walk dogs bark and taunt the troublemaker, to which he snarls in response. The men soon stop and after shouting a vulgarity at a stranger they all stop and the troublemaker pulls out a document from his pocket, garnishing an official stamp of sorts. The scene shifts to an earlier time where the man is standing in front of a panel of gentlemen who wish him luck and grant him clearance to complete a "goodwill mission". The scene then goes back to the three men who then, stumped by the document, let the man simply walk away. As he leaves his company he makes his way towards a taxi, only to stop right before entering the cab to kick over a blind man walking down the sidewalk. He soon jumps in the cab and is off.

The film shifts to later in the day where a party has now developed within the mansion from the previous vignette. The wealthy socialites continue to arrive and speak with one another and as the party begins to get underway the scene shifts to a courtyard where an armed soldier is greeted by a small boy. The man perches the boy on his lap and the two look inside his satchel. The scene shifts back to the party and The Woman is seen overlooking the party. A fire develops within one of the rooms but the party pays it no attention. The scene shifts back to the soldier and boy, showing the soldier holding something in his hands as so the boy can see it. As the boy leans in to see it he slaps the object from the soldier's hand and runs into an overgrown field. As he continues to laugh and frolic, the solider stands up, takes aim and shoots the boy twice, killing him on the pavement.

The party hears the gunfire and rushes to the windows to see what the commotion is. After a brief look at the aftermath of the shooting the socialites return to their party. It is at this point The Man arrives at the party, dragging an evening dress along the floor as he enters the home. After throwing the dress onto a chair he enters the main room and sees The Woman sitting in a chair, they both rejoice and as The Man attempts to walk over to her he is stopped by her mother, who sits him down and talks with him. As the conversation develops between the two the mother stands up to get a drink, and on her return she accidentally spills the glass onto the man. Enraged The Man stands up and slaps the woman across the face, causing the entire party to stop and tend to the woman. Upon seeing her love slap her own mother, The Woman squirms in delight. The party then kicks The Man out of the party and The Woman goes to her mother's aid. Some time passes and when the party has died down and everyone has forgotten about The Man he pokes his head back into the party and gets the attention of The Woman. Excited by his presence she leaves the party and heads toward to courtyard and soon the two finally are together. The party soon begins to file outside for the musical performance of the evening is about to start, but tucked away in a secluded section of the courtyard the couple engage in kissing, finger sucking and heavy petting. As time progresses the two scenes flow in and out of one another: one second the couple is shown and the next the band continues to set up for their performance.

The band begins to play and the couple continue to be affectionate, and at one point The Man stops what they are doing to focus on the foot of a statue they are sitting next to. The band is shown performing well and right when the couple get back to kissing a man appears and tells The Man he has a call waiting in the house. enraged The Man leaves, leaving behind The Woman crouching by the statue eagerly waiting for his return. As The Man begins to walk away The Woman begins to lick and suck on the toe of the statue that The Man had paid so much attention to. When The Man takes his call it is shown that a member of the panel from earlier is on the other end, furious that his mission has been an utter disaster, resulting in many deaths and atrocities. Not affected by any of this, he hangs up the phone, annoyed, and rips the phone out of the wall. As he does this the screen goes black and the following scene shows the older man from the phone clutched to the ceiling of his house, dead.

The Man quickly returns to The Woman in the courtyard and gazes into The Woman's eyes. What follows is a bizarre sequence where they both speak as if they were in bed with one another cuddling, asking if they are sleepy or saying that the pillow is colder on the other side, all the while they remain in the courtyard bench. Holding each other, the couple sits in the courtyard while the band is shown performing an intense piece of music. As the music builds and builds the camera shows The Man's face, beaten and bloody, calling out "my love...my love", at this point the band reaches the crescendo and the conductor stops everything, throws his wand and clutches his head with both hands as if in utter pain. Walking away from his podium he blindly makes his way through the courtyard still clutching his head. As he walks into the section of the yard where the couple is holding one another, The Woman sees the conductor and runs to his aid. In a strange turn of events the two begin kissing and holding one another, and as expected The Man is enraged. Hitting his head on a potted plant above him, The Man walks away in pain, he too now clutching his head.

The man makes his way into a house, infuriated he drops onto a bed and begins to tear open the feather pillows, strowing the feathers across the room. In his fit of rage The Man walks over towards a ceramic bust, picks it up and drops it on the floor. At this point the room is covered in feathers and The Man continues to destroy the room. The scene shifts to outside the bedroom's window, which is two stories up, and with that the windows open and a large ablaze tree is thrust out into the street. As the smoke clears and the tree falls to the ground a priest is seen being rolled out of the window and onto the ground. Following close behind falls a large wooden contraption that slams onto the cobble ground. As the scene progresses the window is shifted into a different position and a large giraffe statue is seen slowly inching its way towards the window, as the giraffe tips over the window it falls down and out, but this time instead of hitting ground it falls off a treacherous cliff and into the sea and rocks below. With his fit of rage done The Man's feather coated hands are seen resting on the edge of the window divider, dropping handfuls of feathers onto the ground. A text screen ends the scene detailing that just like the feathers seen seconds earlier, survivors of a Marquis de Sade style chatea were now leaving their remote prison. The story now turns to a remote castle atop a frozen mountain in the French Alps. Another text screen follows detailing how for 120 days four libertines locked themselves away inside the castle with eight adolescent girls to explore their bestial sexual desire. This of course resembling the 120 Days of Sodom by de Sade.

A castle drawbridge is shown, with text screens detailing how the survivors leaving the debaucheries are coming out now, the first being The Duc de Blangis, who appears leaving the front doors looking strikingly similar to the stereotypical Jesus figure painted by Western society. With long hair and a formed beard, the cloak wearing figure leaves the castle clutching his stomach, only to stretch out his hands in the yet again stereotypical Jesus fashion. As he makes his way across the drawbridge and into the neighbouring mountains three smaller men exit the structure as well, dressed in formal all black attire. Once the men are out a woman begins to exit the castle, dressed in a torn robe and a bloody stain across her chest. At this point the Jesus-like figure walks back over the drawbridge and helps the woman up and escorts her back into the castle. The doors shut and a scream is heard inside the castle and after a brief pause the Jesus figure walks out, this time with a different looking face and cleanly shaven, still clutching his stomach. As the men retreat into the mountains the scene transitions to footage of a large cross covered in snow with the scalps of long hair nailed to the horizontal section of the cross. As the scene continues joyous playful music begins to play and the screen draws to a darkened close, resulting in a single lined "FIN" to appear across the ending screen.

My two cents on this is that it is a great piece of not just surrealist artistry but also film-making in general. The balls it took to release something with this much beef against the Christian/Catholic church is astounding, considering the time frame this was release. The story itself started out slow, but by the second vignette I was hooked entirely until the very end. What I loved about this movie is how it was able to make me laugh and horrify me at the same time, as well as keep me steadily questioning everything that flashed before my eyes. While it doesn't make a whole lot of sense of from scene to scene, the overall message that this film conveys is one that I think deserves respect, and the fact that someone had to sit down and actually come up with all these intricate and bizarre ideas just astounds and impresses me. Overall it is a great look into the history of cinema and surrealism at large.

SHIT MOVIE REVIEW: GOOD