Very disappointing...

not horrible nor great

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Much ink has already been spilled on this seemingly enigmatic film by Luis Buñuel. Hereafter, an attempt to analyze some of the obvious and hidden aspects of this masterpiece. The film uses two notions of the word 'phantom': specter (menace) and illusion. The film also plays on many levels: political, religious, social, mental / physical, symbolical, psychoanalytical.Political The slogan 'Down with liberty' is heard at the beginning and at the end of the film. Its message is clear. First, we witness a staging of the famous Goya painting 'The Third of May, 1808' where Spanish prisoners, shouting this slogan, are shot by the French Republican army. 'Down with liberty' means here 'Down with the French Republic' and its sans-culottes, the defenders of the progressive motto 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'. At the end of the film, the spectator vaguely hears a crowd (apparently a manifestation) which shouts the same slogan. The film was shot during a period when the Communist Party in France still had important political and social clout, especially through its trade union. This party was at that time heavily influenced by a totalitarian state, which was fundamentally opposed to certain freedoms, including political ones. 'Down with liberty' means here also 'Down with the French Republic'.Religion, Justice Religion (Catholicism) was (is) also threatened by liberty and the sans-culottes. The viewer assists at a desecration of a church and of holy bread by the French Republican army. In addition, for L. Buñuel, representatives of the Church are corrupt: in the film, monks play cards and drink alcohol. A sniper kills people indiscriminately in the street, apparently to sow panic among the population; so, it's a provocation (an utmost topical issue). He is condemned, but the sentences of the judges are not respected. To the contrary, the sniper is set free and congratulated by the judicial administration and by part of the population: down with liberty of justice. Physical and mental life A challenging aspect of the movies by L. Buñuel is the dissociation between the physical (time, space) and mental (sentiments) reality. One can see a perfect example of this dissociation in another film by L. Buñuel (An Andalusian Dog), where a father slaps his son, followed by the text 'thirteen years later' and the action continues. In other words, in a split of a second (the slap) the son becomes thirteen years older (psychological time). This dissociation is (perhaps) an explanation of the sequence of the film where a girl disappears while being present. She is physically present, but not mentally for her parents.Illusion Freedom is an illusion in matter of instincts (like for the animals of the zoo). In this regard, scenes of sexual deviances are constants in the films of L. Buñuel as are dream sequences. Other psychoanalytic elements in this movie are anal fixation (a dinner where the guests are sitting on a toilet) or a split personality (the two prefects at the end of the film). Liberty as an illusion is the basic outline of the screenplay: the journey of the characters is all the time disrupted by unforeseen encounters, accidents or bad weather.The end of the film is a shot of an ostrich head, as if L. Buñuel exhorts the spectator: don't put your head in the sand like an ostrich, but do face head-on the (hidden) reality as the bird on the screen.Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato ?

This movie was no joke. Literally. I was completely lost the first time i had seen it. Before i was the kind of film lover who would just see film simply just to enjoy and didn't expect to really get anything out of it, may be educationally but surely not this level of intellectual outcome. The Phantom of Liberty, after explained and discussed in class by an excellent professor, i came to appreciate this film, and understand what it was trying to convey. I got so much out of this film. It had helped me to see a different side of the situation and be curious about things, the world and the people around me and to ask the what if question. I also like that it show the idea that life is full of random chances that we might encounter one day.

The Phantom of Liberty movie show to me how important surrealism is in order to make a movie successful. It really made me feel that I was leaving it while it was been played, but also it goes beyond reality because in the scenes what the characters where doing was something unexpected, weird, not normal, or perhaps disrespectful if someone sees it that way. Moreover, we're not used to lived that way. We see the world differently and we manage personal y private things differently. In fact what really catch my attention was the scene where they all sit together to "eat". It wasn't really like that, it was the opposite, they suppose to eat instead of doing their needs. That really make laugh in a way because I can't imagine myself doing that. In other hand, The phantom of Liberty was really a piece of art even thought it got me kind of confuse. This is a film where you can start asking question to yourself and building all this thoughts and ideas. This is where you can see a real director, art and high level of thinking of Buñuel.

Imagine a world where all the rules of social conduct were flip flopped and then thrown out the window. A world in which murderers are hailed as celebrities. A world where age is nothing but a number and 'aunt' is nothing but a title. One in which it's perceivable to be woken up by an ostrich and to have your mailman deliver your mail straight to your bed. A world in which monks drink alcohol and police officers behave like school children. A world in which parents act as if their children are invisible and people sit around a table to talk about defecation. Is this starting to sound familiar? Luis Bunuel gives us a peek at what absolute freedom looks like and it is incredibly too similar to our own world. Killers become household names and movies are made about their lives while their innocent victims remain nameless and faceless. Hugh Hefner is an idol to men all over the world because he is constantly surrounded by women young enough to be his great grandchildren. Incest is all too common in many countries around the world, something the professor at the police academy tried to explain. Sexual taboos are so prevalent that there are entire websites and organizations dedicated to them. Religious figures breaking boundaries are not something unheard of, neither is the concept of police officers acting childish and petty. Also, parents have been ignoring their children since the beginning of time. A phantom of liberty provides a little window for all to look through and see what absolute freedom looks like and its repercussions. It explores taboos and subjects that people are generally uncomfortable about. It addresses concepts and actions that one culture may praise while another may call barbaric. Because of Bunuel's background and what was going on in Spain at the time, he became obsessed with the concept of freedom. That's why freedom is such a prevalent theme in this movie. This movie really makes you take a good look at the world around you. It's a visual form of satire.