The Phantom of Liberty
A chain of deadpan surreal episodes turns everyday manners, authority, desire, and morality inside out until freedom itself becomes an absurd mystery.
Overview
A surreal exploration of the absurdities of everyday life through bizarre vignettes that challenge perceptions of reality.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Moderate
- surreal
- witty
- deadpan
- arthouse film night
- surreal cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Buñuel's formally inventive surrealist comedy as an acclaimed and incisive dismantling of bourgeois conventions, morality, and ordinary logic.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film proceeds through successive eccentric episodes whose connections emerge through recurring social situations rather than a central quest.
Mundane customs, private behavior, authority, and morality are repeatedly reversed so that abnormality becomes routine.
Police, religion, domestic life, and polite society become targets of scenes that reveal the absurdity beneath conventional order.
Snipers, monks, disappearances, and uncanny encounters are treated with an understated everyday tone rather than heightened spectacle.
Films like The Phantom of Liberty, and why
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
surreal bourgeois satire, episodic absurdism, and subversive attacks on social convention
That Obscure Object of Desire
anarchic humor, dreamlike causality, and irreverent critiques of morality and authority
The Exterminating Angel
absurdist vignettes, philosophical unease, and surreal disruptions of ordinary reality
Holy Motors
provocative surrealism, black comedy, and fragmented examinations of repression and social ritual
Movie Details
- Director
- Luis Buñuel
- Release Date
- 1974-09-10
- Runtime
- 104 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (343)
Cast
- Jean-Claude Brialy
- Adriana Asti
- Milena Vukotić
- Monica Vitti
- Jean Rochefort
- Michel Piccoli
- Adolfo Celi
- Claude Piéplu
- Paul Frankeur
- Pierre Maguelon
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Phantom of Liberty about?
- A chain of deadpan surreal episodes turns everyday manners, authority, desire, and morality inside out until freedom itself becomes an absurd mystery.
- What is The Phantom of Liberty like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Phantom of Liberty as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is The Phantom of Liberty violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Phantom of Liberty as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Phantom of Liberty?
- Critics broadly regard Buñuel's formally inventive surrealist comedy as an acclaimed and incisive dismantling of bourgeois conventions, morality, and ordinary logic.
- Which films are like The Phantom of Liberty?
- Films with a similar feel include The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, That Obscure Object of Desire, The Exterminating Angel, and Holy Motors.
- How long is The Phantom of Liberty?
- The Phantom of Liberty runs 104 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Phantom of Liberty?
- In United States, The Phantom of Liberty streams on Criterion Channel.
