L'Age d'Or (1930) review

Timeless film about the sexual repression produced by religion and upper class societal values also acts as a primer for Buñuel's later films that mock the self-righteous and wealthy. The work he did with Dalí is unquestionably magnificent - Un Chien Andalou is just as unforgettable - and the collaboration produced countless indelible images (the scorpions that open the picture that represent both cruel people and the film's structure, a burning tree thrown out a window, scalps on a crucifix) as well as still-humorous (if tasteless) gags (juxtaposing a toilet with 'bubbling mud'). The ending, which transports Jesus Christ to the Marquis de Sade's world of uninhibited depravity (and ends with Our Savior 'taking care of business'), is one of the great closing scenes of any movie in history. No wonder Buñuel kept those stones in his pocket....