Luis Buñuel and the Marx Brothers

 

Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, the Film Museum traditionally presents several films with the Marx Brothers – juxtaposed with works by other filmmakers. This year's program invites audiences to consider Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo M. in conjunction with one of the few artists who consistently equaled their passion for a surrealist-anarchist cinema – for film as a subversive art: Luis Buñuel. The selection of Buñuel's masterpieces in this show includes Viridiana (1961), Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), Belle de jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972); and it also brings us face to face with The Phantom of Liberty (1974) – a creature from that utopian realm where Don Luis and Groucho Marx dance their joyful pas de deux for all eternity.