Review of The Phantom of Liberty

This wondrous and admirable picture begins with Napoleon's troops invading Toledo, Spain in 1808, where a group (including Bunuel) are facing a firing squad. Then an officer tries to kiss a stone statue lady, and is struck by an adjacent statue's arm. The film then moves to present day France, and a man giving postcards to children, who he tells, don't show them to adults. You see the postcards contain the shocking images of structural landmarks. The short stories begin and disappear quickly, with one of the characters exiting a scene, and leading off into another different location. The viewer doesn't have long to think, and is suddenly thrown into a new unusual episode. Other memorable scenes include one where guests sit on toilets at a dinner table, then ask to go to a small cubicle to eat on their own. One where a sniper shoots many people, and when tried in court and found guilty, is sentenced to death. His handcuffs are then removed by police, who shake his hand, and outside a gathering of people ask for his autograph. My favourite scene is when a couple are told to go to their daughter's school, because she has vanished. They arrive there and find her in class, the school register is read out, and she replies, then they take her to the police station. The police sergeant then questions the young girl about her height, weight, and so on, then calls an officer in and tells him to look all over the city for this girl, the officer then replies "Can I take her with me?". Marvellous. It is all quite superb. It would be unfair to describe all the scenes, you really have to see this picture and allow them all to soak into you, preferably after several viewings of the film. A picture made with utter abandon and liberty. Classic Bunuel. One of his very best.