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The Phantom of Liberty

Original title: Le fantôme de la liberté
  • 19741974
  • RR
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
16K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
  • Comedy
A series of surreal sequences that critique morality and society in a stream of consciousness style.A series of surreal sequences that critique morality and society in a stream of consciousness style.A series of surreal sequences that critique morality and society in a stream of consciousness style.
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
16K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Luis Buñuel
  • Writers
    • Luis Buñuel(scenario)
    • Jean-Claude Carrière(collaboration)
  • Stars
    • Jean-Claude Brialy
    • Adolfo Celi
    • Michel Piccoli
Top credits
  • Director
    • Luis Buñuel
  • Writers
    • Luis Buñuel(scenario)
    • Jean-Claude Carrière(collaboration)
  • Stars
    • Jean-Claude Brialy
    • Adolfo Celi
    • Michel Piccoli
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 320User reviews
    • 64Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins

    Photos42

    Philippe Brigaud in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Pierre Maguelon in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Anne-Marie Deschodt in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Paul Le Person, Guy Montagné, Bernard Musson, Marcel Pérès, and Milena Vukotic in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Jean-Claude Brialy and Monica Vitti in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Michael Lonsdale, Anne-Marie Deschodt, and Milena Vukotic in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Michel Piccoli in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Paul Le Person, Guy Montagné, Bernard Musson, Marcel Pérès, and Milena Vukotic in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Julien Bertheau and Michel Piccoli in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Jean-Claude Brialy and Monica Vitti in Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
    Poster for rerelease, A1 movie poster -  59 x 84 cm or 23 x 33 inches

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jean-Claude Brialy
    Jean-Claude Brialy
    • Foucauldas Foucauld…
    Adolfo Celi
    Adolfo Celi
    • Le docteur de Legendreas Le docteur de Legendre…
    Michel Piccoli
    Michel Piccoli
    • Le second préfet de policeas Le second préfet de police…
    Monica Vitti
    Monica Vitti
    • Mme Foucaudas Mme Foucaud…
    Adriana Asti
    Adriana Asti
    • La dame en noir et la soeur du premier préfetas La dame en noir et la soeur du premier préfet…
    Julien Bertheau
    Julien Bertheau
    • Le premier préfet de policeas Le premier préfet de police…
    Paul Frankeur
    Paul Frankeur
    • L'aubergisteas L'aubergiste…
    Michael Lonsdale
    Michael Lonsdale
    • Le chapelieras Le chapelier…
    Pierre Maguelon
    Pierre Maguelon
    • Gérard, le gendarmeas Gérard, le gendarme…
    François Maistre
    François Maistre
    • Le professeur des gendarmesas Le professeur des gendarmes…
    Hélène Perdrière
    • La vieille tanteas La vieille tante…
    Claude Piéplu
    Claude Piéplu
    • Le commissaire de policeas Le commissaire de police…
    Jean Rochefort
    Jean Rochefort
    • Legendreas Legendre…
    Bernard Verley
    Bernard Verley
    • Le capitaine des dragonsas Le capitaine des dragons…
    Milena Vukotic
    Milena Vukotic
    • L'infirmièreas L'infirmière
    • (as Miléna Vukotic)
    • …
    Jenny Astruc
    • La femme du professeuras La femme du professeur
    Pascale Audret
    Pascale Audret
    • Mme Legendreas Mme Legendre
    Ellen Bahl
    • Françoise, la nurse des Legendreas Françoise, la nurse des Legendre
    • Director
      • Luis Buñuel
    • Writers
      • Luis Buñuel(scenario)
      • Jean-Claude Carrière(collaboration)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit
    As unusual, eccentric, and bizarre vignettes of mundane and seemingly innocuous conventions of our social and private lives success one another, somehow, Napoléon Bonaparte's troops, earthly monks, dangerous snipers, and the peculiar disappearance of a beloved one metamorphose into banal instances of our daily existence. With this in mind, under those surreal circumstances, the abnormal becomes normal, the obvious transforms into something unclear or even invisible, and the extraordinary transfigures into ordinary. But, are things always black and white? How real is the haunting spectre of liberty? —Nick Riganas
    • courtroom
    • surrealism
    • emu
    • absurd comedy
    • dinner
    • 94 more
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Taglines
      • Luis Bunuel's kinkiest comedy.
    • Genre
      • Comedy
    • Certificate
      • R
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The title is a reference to "The Communist Manifesto" which in English begins: "A spectre is stalking Europe, the spectre of Communism." The French translation known to Buñuel translated "spectre" as "fantome". So the title can be seen as a dig at the "Bourgeois" mentality which fears freedom, and also a sideswipe at the rather straightjacketed Communist parties of the time.
    • Goofs
      At the beginning of the movie after shooting the prisoners you can see one of the victims moving the hand although he's dead.
    • Quotes

      Sophie: Mommy, I'm very hungry!

      L'hôtesse à la réception mondaine: Sophie, it's impolite to use those words at the table!

    • Connections
      Edited into The Clock (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      Carnaval, opus 9, movement number 12 - Chopin
      Written by Robert Schumann

      Played on the piano by the sister of the police commissioner

    User reviews320

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Buñuel continues to impress with this surrealistic, violent comedy
    The master of surrealistic cinema, Luis Buñuel, changed his approach to the bourgeoisie after "Tristana", and his last three films are all comic and prevail through a mixture of pure surrealism, extreme irony and the one consistent theme of Buñuel's auteurship- hatred of the ruling classes.

    "Le Fantôme de la Liberté" is perhaps Buñuel's least accessible work since his first two films, "Un Chien Andalou" and "L' Age d' Or". It is a thematic continuation of "Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie", where the seven protagonists just couldn't finish, or even start, a meal. This is a strong metaphor for Buñuel's view that the bourgeoisie is a dying class, and that not even a violent revolution is needed to remove the bourgeoisie from power and wealth. They are perfectly capable of doing so themselves, through their indulgence in pathetic etiquette and decaying sense of morality. "Le Fantôme" is not funnier than "Le Charme", but it is harder to understand, and this is exactly what Buñuel and Carrière wanted after the success of "Le Charme" at the previous Academy Awards.

    In "Le Fantôme", not even the characters are consistent throughout the film. This film is like a relay, where one member of the ruling class passes the stick to the next, and never comes back to the vision of the audience. They just leave, like Buñuel wanted them to, perhaps, but in this film is an important factor because it confirms Buñuel's non-human view of the people of this class. His was a collective hatred, and this film reflects his collective view of the bourgeoisie. The film contains absurd, surreal incidents, like priests playing cards while smoking and drinking, parents reacting to postcards of famous buildings given their daughter by a stranger as they were obscene and a writer killing tens of people from his sniping-position at the roof of a building. The writer is found not guilty, and the continuing mix-up of characters, two actors competing for one role makes for a very confusing narrative. Or maybe the "story" is just a mockery of traditional storytelling in film. Resnais and Robbe-Grillet made "Last Year in Marienbad" just to prove that telling stories is a bourgeois thing and not necessary for modernist or revolutionary cinema.

    This film is actually based on a painting by Francisco José de Goya called "El Tres de Mayo" (The three in Mayo), and "Le Fantôme" starts with a short episode of how Buñuel depicts the incidents during the Napoleon Wars. But it's the theme of Goya's painting that Buñuel is concerned with, and this film is more than a mockery of the bourgeoisie, it is also an attack on communist doctrine which all over the world only seems to take from the people what is was supposed to give to the people: Freedom, and also an attack on leftist defeatism. The glorification of the defeat is perhaps the modern Left's biggest problem, which only leads to a move away from power. "Down with freedom!", Buñuel's revolutionaries shout- and the firing squads start firing at the dying revolutionaries.
    helpful•45
    15
    • braugen
    • Jul 1, 2003

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 27, 1974 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Italy
    • Languages
      • Latin
      • Spanish
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Das Gespenst der Freiheit
    • Filming locations
      • Tour Montparnasse - 33, avenue Maine, Paris 15, Paris, France
    • Production company
      • Greenwich Film Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $6,172
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $6,172
      • Nov 10, 2002
    • Gross worldwide
      • $6,749
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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