I enjoyed the movie a lot but did they steal the "it was all a dream or maybe not" thing? Could be from a movie or even a book.
And I'm pretty sure there are spoofs Bourgeoisie. I seem to recall The Simpsons, not sure what episode, however...
The "it was all a dream" thing is very old indeed. The oldest famous example I can think of is in Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" where Svidrigailov has a whole series of dreams (towards the end of the book) each of which we assume is real until he wakes up. It's quite effectively done.
There's no way Bunuel could have imagined he was doing anything original with the dream thing, although it is well known that he didn't read much, so who knows...?
In the film it's difficult to know whether the dream trick is a major weakness because he might have wanted us to laugh at how corny it is. Personally I think he was straining at even a single level of subtlety in this film and there's can hardly have intended to achieve a double-subtlety in this way.
I think the dream thing betrays a tremendous intellectual shallowness in this film, which didn't really work for me on any level. These people are not even bourgeouis but closer to aristocracy! I thought they even acquitted themselves very well in the situations where presumably they were supposed to look foolish. And don't tell me that we were meant to admire these people!
Oh no! I just started reading "Crime and Punishment" last night - literally!! I didn't know anything about the dream sequence. Will knowing spoil the book for me?
shareThe dream thing is older than Crime and Punishment. The first recorded fictional example (that I am aware of) of someone thinking a series of events are a dream, and then finding or seeing something that makes them think they are real is in Robert Burns's poem, "Tam O' Shanter" written in 1790.
sharefranfaircloth wrote:
The first recorded fictional example (that I am aware of) of someone thinking a series of events are a dream, and then finding or seeing something that makes them think they are real is in Robert Burns's poem, "Tam O' Shanter" written in 1790.
I think the dream thing betrays a tremendous intellectual shallowness in this film, which didn't really work for me on any level. These people are not even bourgeouis but closer to aristocracy! I thought they even acquitted themselves very well in the situations where presumably they were supposed to look foolish. And don't tell me that we were meant to admire these people!
i dont who started it, but i can tell you its been copied endlessly. especially in john landis "american werewolf in london" where the main character has a nightmare and wakes up, only to realize hes still having the nightmare, and then wakes up again, and is finally back to reality. just felt like sharing that because i love both films...
shareTHANKS FOR RUINING A BOOK.
Don't panic, nothing spoiled. Svidrigailov's dreams have nothing at all to do with the main story of Raskolnikov.
BRUCE WILLIS IS A GHOST!!
shareDoes revealing a narrative device constitute a "spoiler?" I mean this in earnest, I'm not being glib. For me, it does not (unless it also reveals a plot point - not sure in the case of Crime and Punishment, since I haven't read it, but I do not consider this masterwork "ruined" for me now). What is the consensus?
shareThe earliest films I can remember that use that device are some of the old Buster Keaton shorts from the early twenties. See The Love Nest, The Playhouse, The Frozen North, and Sherlock Jr.
share[deleted]
the problem isn't that the "it's all a dream" thing is unoriginal, the problem is the dreams are supposed to be deep and meaningful, and they are not, and by being un-real they blunt any possible satire of reality, how can you satirize french society if it's all a randomly surreal dream?
I agree with davidsharp who said :
"I think the dream thing betrays a tremendous intellectual shallowness in this film, which didn't really work for me on any level. These people are not even bourgeouis but closer to aristocracy! I thought they even acquitted themselves very well in the situations where presumably they were supposed to look foolish. And don't tell me that we were meant to admire these people!"
He's right - they treat their servants well, they don't throw a tantrum when they don't get dinner or even tea, they don't snipe at each other behind each other's backs, they enjoy having dinner with friends - so they may be boring but that hardly makes this a satire (it just makes a boring film), and worse it's not funny.
*
Downloads of Ambient & Neo-classical Music : http://music.download.com/dj_dreamstream