Word: charm
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Felix made the grand tour. Starting out in 1829, he traveled for three years. His greatest successes came in London, for the English liked his music as well as his charm. Queen Victoria and her consort spent many a private evening with him, with Mendelssohn playing Albert's new pipe organ and the prince literally pulling out all the stops...
...Discreet Charm of Bourgeoise...
EVEN AT THE AGE of 72, Luis Bunuel does not make movies, surrealistic or not, that are intelligible to all. The difficulty with Bunuel's new film, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, is that it is possible to enjoy it without being certain how to react to it. The first audience one night recently left the movie bemused and unconvinced. A couple admired it, saying "That's wild," then wondered, "What's he doing?" The next audience that evening never stopped laughing. One might well ask, as does one confused character when caught in an uncomfortable situation midway through...
...stake in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie are the attenuated meals that six characters (Fernando Ray, Bulle Ogier, Raul Frankeur, Delphine Segrig, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Stephane Audran) never finish. A misunderstanding--guests arriving a day in advance for a dinner party--is the movie's premise and from it follow seven meals, each real or fantasy, all of which are interrupted by events, again either actual or imagined. The causes for the disruptions are as absurd as they are unexplained--the hosts making love while their guests wait, a funeral, a French military battalion, imprisonment for drug trafficking...
...with something close to lightheartedness. Watch for the scene in which Francois gives a demonstration lecture on the art of mixing dry martinis, at one point remarking that the ice must be very firm and very cold, about 32 degrees, and notice how discreet Bunuel himself is about the charm of his bourgeoisie...