The Phantom of Liberty

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The Phantom of Liberty

R,

1974,

1h 44m,

Comedy

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Watchlist

85%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

91%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

85%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

This Surrealist Spanish film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

Sep 21, 2023

The domesticated surrealism of this picture has no sting, no bite, and no aftereffect. At most, it's amusing, at worst, it's tedious.

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Joy Gould Boyum

Wall Street Journal

Aug 10, 2022

Superb and marvelously witty.

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Tom Milne

Time Out

May 24, 2019

[Luis Buñuel] made sure that this isn't such an easy pill to digest, though its delightful humor goes down just as easily.

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Jul 18, 2023

Episodic assemblies of absurdist jokes...

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John Simon

Esquire Magazine

Jul 28, 2020

Much that has been hailed as Buñuel's profundity is merely self-purgation: catharsis for himself rather than for his audience. Though this may be the commonest motive for artistic creation, it is, by itself, insufficient.

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LAFP Staff

Los Angeles Free Press

Dec 5, 2019

The result is funny, frustrating and thought-provoking.

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Leia R

Jan 29, 2018

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 = 82

Han W

Aug 13, 2015

M-F 8.6 [Luis Buñuel]

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Synopsis

This Surrealist Spanish film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

Director: Luis Buñuel
Producer: Serge Silberman
Screenwriter: Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Distributor: 20th Century Fox, Rialto Pictures
Production Co: 20th Century Fox
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 11, 1974, Original
Release Date (DVD): May 24, 2005
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1, 35mm

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