My Last Sigh
Luis Buñuel
1982; Vintage Books / Random House
Here is a superb autobiography by Luis Buñuel, the master of surreal cinema, written in the twilight of his life (he knows he is not long for the world- the tone has an autumnal essence throughout), recounting his extraordinary career. (The book was originally published in 1982; he would pass in 1983.) It is a simply written, entirely engrossing read. You will not find exhaustive recounts of the filmmaking process (that is to say, nothing as detailed as other books which study his films), but Buñuel does include reminisces from real life that had inspired some of his work (most tellingly, the Easter weekend-long drumming in Calanda which ended up in the infamous ending of L’Age d’Or– still my favourite Buñuel).
As you read this, you are disarmed by Buñuel’s personality. Considering the shocking and blasphemous images that dot the films of his 50-year career, one is surprised to regard Buñuel as a gentle and spiritual man (surprisingly, in the chapter “Pros and Cons”, he called the scene in Rossellini’s Open City where the priest is tortured “tasteless”). One is amused with his assertion that he was hired for all of his pictures- not one was initially conceived himself- or that some of these with typically Buñuelian plots of madness and deceit, were actually based on true events! Therefore it is to his credit as an auteur that he made even the most obscure film his own. (Mind you- during his Mexican period from 1948 to 1959, one had to dig deeper to find the subversion in a lot of his “for hire” work on melodramatic potboilers, but it is there). From Lorca to Dali, from Hitchcock to Franco, Luis Buñuel gives a marvellous recount of his life through the Surrealism period, the Spanish Civil War, Hollywood, and Spain under Fascism, and the many people who crossed his path. There are also refreshingly personal fragments, such as chapters on dreams (which figure prominently in his films) and a gallery of likes and dislikes. Instead of being a comprehensive meticulously annotated biography, this is a breathing essence of the man. Highly, highly recommended.