An Unspeakable Betrayal

Although Luis Bunuel, one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century, was notoriously reluctant to discuss his own work in public, he wrote on many subjects over the years. This collection proceeds chronologically, from poetry and short stories written in Bunuel’s youth in Spain to an essay written in 1980, not long before his death. Translated into English, the writings offer insights into the filmmaker’s life and thought. The earliest pieces came well before Bunuel joined the Surrealist movement in Paris and created the landmark film “Un Chien andalou” with Salvador Dali. Yet these and the early Surrealist writings reveal the inventiveness of the mind that would later create such masterpieces of cinema as “L’Age d’or”, “Los olvidadoes”, “Viridiana”, “The Milky Way”, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “That Obscure Object of Desire”. Later writings, which include screenplays and reflections on his own and others’ films, illuminate many aspects of Bunuel’s career, as well as the ways of thinking and perceiving that underlie his cinematic style. The final essay sums up his view of the world at the end of his life.

Author Biography

Luis Bunuel (1900-1983) is regarded as one of the most accomplished directors in the history of cinema. His celebrated collaboration with Dali in 1928 was followed by a career as a filmmaker that spanned fifty years. Garrett White is a translator and film and art journalist. He translated and wrote the introduction for Blaise Cendrars’s Hollywood: Mecca of the Movies (California, 1995).