"An Andalus Dog" is the debut of Spanish artists Louis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, who were still poor and unknown at that time.
This film is the highest example of all surrealist films, and it is also the most imitated by later generations. It is also a controversial film in the history of cinema, so let's take a look at it today to unravel what kind of story is hidden in this movie.
Film narration
The film presents a series of seemingly unrelated images and visual symbols. The montages of the film are eerie and quick to switch; a strangely dressed cyclist crosses the street and falls for no reason; a man dragging two pianos, two putrid donkeys, two Catholic priests, and a moment of "Ten Commandments of Moses"; and ants pouring out of a wound in the palm of a man's hand.
The picture of the film is a parody of the dream and has symbolic significance. This can be analyzed and explained by Freudianism. The picture of men and women shows sexual repression and rebellion, and so on.
The choreographer compares the brutal imagery with the shocking picture effect and the poetic picture, a sharp bayonet cuts open the human eyeball, and a human head hangs under the giant bell... to convey desperate bitter emotions and anarchist rebellion.
This film is a surrealist epoch-making masterpiece in the history of cinema, without any film plot, but it plays a pivotal role in the films of later generations, and its absurdity is like a true portrayal that awakens the hearts of every moviegoer or film practitioner.
Of these parallel scenes, the most classic is probably the cross-cutting eyeball clip; this shot is not only surreal but also very scary, becoming a long-term model for similar films.
In this clip, a man sharpens his razor and tries the blade; he looks off from the balcony and then begins to cut the eyeballs of a sitting young girl. The film's quick camera transitions and successive images mean that viewers don't have enough time to think about the meaning of each of these images.
The film also incorporates obviously chaotic random subtitles, such as "Once Upon a Time", and "Eight Years Later" in the blink of an eye, nullifying any attempt to straighten out the relationship between time and space; the film's protagonists, Simone Marrell and Pierre Bashef, engage in an increasingly surreal string of scenes that do not constitute any logically reasonable narrative.
This film has no conventional story line at all; for example, it is purely futile to clarify the plot of the film. Certain images are repeated in the film, only to reinforce a manic sense of comicality with hostility, giving the impression that Buñuel and Dalis are irritating and teasing the audience. This film is not only a movie, but also a new experience.
According to one widely circulated account, Buñuel hid behind the screen when the film premiered, and for fear of being attacked by the audience, he also filled his pocket with small stones to prepare for a counterattack. Whatever the truth, "An Andalus Dog" has become a cult model for filmmakers around the world who want to emulate or pay homage to the surreal film style.
To this day, the film remains an outstanding masterpiece of Surrealism. Every scene in the film looks horrible, and all the scenes seem illogical.
Although the people and scenes in the film are real, under this seemingly reasonable appearance, the extremes of the film are hidden. After watching it for the first time, I felt delirious, but then I thought it was very interesting as my extreme illusion thoughts gradually increased.
The psychology after the seemingly inappropriate visual rhythm is comfortable, highlighting the contrast between the two, showing the difference between aesthetic judgment and actual logic, perhaps this is the closest thing to itself, perhaps this is the most real life.