Starring Pierre Batcheff and Simone Mareuil
A man stands before a mirror sharpening his razor blade. He walk to the balcony and looks at the moon. A woman is sitting on the balcony. He grabs her head. She does not resist. He raises the razor and slices open her eye.
Cut to eight years later, and the man is wearing a nun's habit and riding a bike down the street. The woman looks out of the window of her apartment to see him fall over. She...
All right, I give up. Recapping Un Chien Andalou is a pointless exercise. The film is a series of disjointed scenes and images. There is:
A severed hand laying on the ground being poked by a woman with a cane who is in turn surrounded by police.
A man pulling two ropes that are attached to two pianos holding dead animals, two priests and two tablets (presumably the Ten Commandments).
A couple of young lovers walking a beach who moments later find themselves dead and half-buried in sand.
A man confronting another version of himself.
A mysterious, locked box.
Is it well done? Sure. It has a gothic horror music video aesthetic. Think David Cronenberg by way of Michael Bay.
What does it mean? Nothing. Everything. I imagine it will speak to people based on their own experiences and desires. Some parts spoke to me; others passed into the ether.
The only cinematic analogy I can think of to describe Un Chien Andalou is the Dark Side Cave from The Empire Strikes Back. What will you find in the film? "Only what you take with you."
**** out of *****
NOTE: For the scene where the eye is cut open, they used a dead calf eye.
At only 18 minutes long, this is an easy recommend.
Photo from LBFI
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