Conclusion

Abstract

Luis Buñuel’s career as a film-maker was extremely long – from Un Chien andalou in 1929 to That Obscure Object of Desire in 1977 – very largely consistent in terms of themes and technique, and singularly brilliant. It falls roughly, as the preceding chapters suggest, into three parts, though it is important to emphasise that these are not mutually exclusve, for Buñuel’s work is distinguished by recurring personal, social and religious preoccupations. The first period corresponds to the years 1929 to 1934 and the completion of his three unmistakably surrealist films: Un Chien andalou, L’Âge d’or and Las Hurdes. The second period extends from around 1946 to 1960, when Buñuel spent most of his time in Mexico, making largely commercial films on low budgets and in a limited period of time. And the third period, when he divided his time between Mexico, France and Spain, saw the completion of the films for which he is best known and for the making of which he enjoyed much greater financial resources and artistic freedom than he had in Mexico: Belle de jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire.