Overview
A surreal dinner party spirals into chaos as guests confront their primal instincts when trapped together.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- deadpan
- eerie
- absurdist
- arthouse film night
- surrealist cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Luis Buñuel's surrealist chamber satire as a sharply crafted, unsettling examination of bourgeois ritual and social hypocrisy.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The dinner guests can neither explain nor overcome their mysterious inability to cross the room's threshold.
Lavish etiquette and upper-class status gradually lose meaning as the guests confront hunger, fear, and mutual distrust.
The inexplicable confinement is treated with restrained seriousness while its consequences become grotesquely and darkly comic.
The story's closing repetition of the guests' ritual reinforces the sense that the inexplicable condition persists.
Films like The Exterminating Angel, and why
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
shares surrealist absurdity, claustrophobic social pressure, and an affluent group whose civilized behavior deteriorates
The Phantom of Liberty
shares Buñuel's deadpan surrealism, bourgeois ritual, and satirical exposure of upper-class hypocrisy
The Celebration
shares single-location claustrophobia, dark comedy, and escalating interpersonal breakdown among privileged characters
The Lobster
shares absurdist social satire, confinement, and the collapse of polite behavior under inexplicable circumstances
Movie Details
- Director
- Luis Buñuel
- Release Date
- 1962-05-16
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Rating
- 7.9 / 10 (772)
Cast
- Silvia Pinal
- Jacqueline Andere
- Claudio Brook
- Enrique Rambal
- José Baviera
- Augusto Benedico
- Luis Beristáin
- Antonio Bravo
- César del Campo
- Bertha Moss
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel, Cultpix
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Exterminating Angel about?
- At an opulent dinner party, an invisible social and physical barrier turns Mexico's privileged elite into frightened, savage captives.
- What is The Exterminating Angel like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Exterminating Angel as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Exterminating Angel violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Exterminating Angel as mild.
- What did critics think of The Exterminating Angel?
- Critics broadly regard Luis Buñuel's surrealist chamber satire as a sharply crafted, unsettling examination of bourgeois ritual and social hypocrisy.
- Which films are like The Exterminating Angel?
- Films with a similar feel include The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, The Celebration, and The Lobster.
- How long is The Exterminating Angel?
- The Exterminating Angel runs 93 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Exterminating Angel?
- In United States, The Exterminating Angel streams on Criterion Channel, Cultpix.
