MY LAST SIGH: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel

by Luis Bunuel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 1983

Surrealist, anarchist, alleged celebrant of cruelty and perversion: even at age 83, Spanish cinema-patriarch Bunuel remains an enigmatic, vaguely creepy presence--and this memoir, alternating chapters of reminiscence with musings on favorite themes, is often informative, sometimes amusingly evocative, but rarely involving. Son of a wealthy, idle businessman, Bunuel grew up in an Aragon village where ""the Middle Ages lasted until World War I""; religion and death were the local preoccupations; young Luis was soon repelled by the former, fascinated by the latter (his father accused him of ""sadism""), and obsessed with the forbidden subject of sex. As a dilettante-ish student in Madrid, he wrote poetry, joined the avant-garde ""Ultraist"" circle, and found two great, problematic friends: elegant, discreetly homosexual Garcia Lorca, a peerless human being but, to Bunuel, a bad writer (his plays are ""ornate and bombastic""); and Dali, ""a shy young man with long hair"" who would change in the years ahead. (""I can't forgive him for his egomania, his obsessive exhibitionism, his cynical support of the Falange, and his frank disrespect for friendship."") Then, in Paris, Bunuel discovered the potential of film (Fritz Lang) and surrealism, ""an aggressive morality based on the complete rejection of all existing values"": with Dali he made Un Chien andalou (financed by Bunuel's mother). But the major film-career didn't come till nearly 20 years later--after a brief visit to Hollywood, Republican propaganda work in the Civil-War-torn Thirties, wartime jobs in N.Y. And, in the brief final chapters here, Bunuel offers a few film-by-film comments on his work in Mexico, Spain, and France. (Belle de jour was ""my biggest commercial success, which I attribute more to the marvelous whores than to my direction."") Slight, too, are the references to family life. Along the way, however, there are chapters of introspection/philosophy: the pleasures of drinking and smoking; the paramount joy of dreams, fantasies, imagination (""my impregnable innocence""); likes and dislikes (""I'm very fond of snakes and rats""). So, though there's limited appeal here for the general reader, Bunuel aficionados will discover the personal impulses behind much of his imagery--while students of surrealism will appreciate the sharply opinionated sketches of Aragon, Breton, Ernst, and others.

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1983

Categories: NONFICTION