Mexico/1953 — directed by Luis Buñuel | 93 min.

Among the most unsettling films of his often-overlooked Mexican period, Él is Luis Buñuel’s incisive portrait of paranoia, jealousy, and sexual obsession — a nightmarish tale of love gone wrong that prefigures the themes of his later classics Viridiana and The Exterminating Angel. 

Incorporating his personal demons into this adaptation of Mercedes Pinto’s autobiographical novel, Buñuel tells the story of Francisco, a devout middle-aged bachelor who falls into an all-consuming love with young socialite Gloria. After breaking off her engagement with another man, Gloria begins to realize something is “off” about Francisco, whose deep, repressed insecurities soon take their toll. 

One of Buñuel’s rawest indictments of social hypocrisy, Él stands as the surrealist master’s great excursion into dark melodrama, where civilization can find no answer to the irrational urges of the id.

Presented in a new 4K restoration. In Spanish with English subtitles. 

“Released at the height of his prolific Mexican period, Él is relevant and incendiary, and remains one of Buñuel’s crowning achievements.” — Richard Brody, The New Yorker