Un Chien Andalou - initial discussion and narrative elements

Un Chien Andalou - initial discussion

Micro - Cinematography, editing, MES, performance, sound
Macro - Narrative, genre

• Use of intertitles creates a confusing and atemporal sense of space and time. The first intertitle reads ‘once upon a time which has narrative significance of fairy tales. However, we almost immediately cut to the shocking image of an eyeball being slit open, completely shattering the expectations of the spectator
• Narrative is constructed through highly suggestive and symbolic use of montage. Montage is the utilisation of editing to construct meaning. Here, actions create meaning, not conventional narrative traits, and the shot of Bunuel obsessively sharpening his razor before cutting to the effect of this action constructs a clear and brutal narrative for the spectator. In the centre of this montage, a LS of a cloud seeming cutting through the moon symbolically suggests the cutting of an eye. 
• Objects are changed and substituted throughout the film. For example, the moon is substituted for an eye, a book changes to a gun, clothes change to nudity, a body changes in to a mannikin, breasts transform in to buttocks, armpit hair transforms into
•  a sea urchin… by substitution sings and messages, a theme of fear and change and confusion is constructed
• There are many dead animals in this film. The cow's eye, the dead donkeys, the urchin, and the ants symbolise decay. Here, death represents change 
• Themes of spiritual authority and devotion to god. The MES of priests dragged along the floor constructs a confusing and unpleasant mode of address. It could symbolise the weight of the sins of the priests, and therefore religious corruption. 
• There are many themes of sexual obsession in this film. The shot countershot of the man and the woman reinforces the man’s perverted and villainous facial expressions. Sex and death are constantly combined and conflated in this film. The man appears to be comically aroused by the death of the other woman on the street, and constantly tries to instigate sex with the woman. We cut to his face at the point of orgasm, which seems to suggest that he has died. A trail of blood pours out of his mouth, and his face is completely white. Sex and death are interchangeable in this film, constructing a controversial mode of address
• The final intertitle, Au printemps, in spring, suggests new life, new beginnings. However, we are presented with MS of the lovers, buried up to their waists in the sand, apparently dead. This connotes the idea that true love does not exist, and love itself is a trap. By being stranded in the desert/beach, a highly pessimistic ending is constructed for the spectator

The stripy, wooden box, sometimes worn as jewellery, sometimes containing a severed hand, and found at the end of the film/the end of time smashed and useless can symbolise many things. 

• Different opportunities (ties, hands, smashed)
• A gift, a present, love and devotion 
• Purity and preservation. The hand in the box is not crawling with ants
• A macguffin. Something that drives the narrative and holds it together 

Motivations and character arcs

The Razor Man, played by Luis Bunuel seems to have a single goal; of killing The Woman, or torturing her sadistically. However, his performance is ambivalent, and potentially bored. The symbolic MES of the cloud cutting the moon may suggest that this is a fantasy, or an idle thought

The Woman  - Initially single, isolated and lonely, the woman runs downstairs to steal the Man’s clothes, then constructs a new Man on her bed. By constructing a new boyfriend, this indicates her motivation is love, a need for affection and sexual desire. Her partner clearly dies, and lacking his embrace, she reconstructs him. 

The Man - stares unfazed and impassively at ants crawling out of a hole in his hand, which is symbolic of death and decay. He spends the reset of the film desperately trying to fulfil his sexual desires. Many things get in his way, a pane of glass, then pianos, priests and dead donkey’s all stop him from achieving his desire

How do Freudian principals work as narrative conceits?

Negation – “I’m not racist but…” Negation in this film can be found through the symbolic MES of the moon being cut, with the explicit MES of the eye being cut

The death drive – “I don’t care if I live or die, I'm just here for the ride…” The woman on the road clearly has a death wish, and is spending her last few moments standing in the middle of a road.

Freudian slips – Have you ever called your teacher “mum?” Or said “I have your breast intentions at heart?” - many objects are transformed and substituted in this film. A book transforms in to a gun, and in one montage, crawling ants transform in to a woman’s armpit which then transforms in to a sea urchin

The pleasure principle – that little voice inside us that just wants gratification, no matter what the cost…” - Every character is pursuing pleasure in some way! However, The Man is particularly intense which his acquisition of pleasure