La voie lactée (1969)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel (writer)
Jean-Claude Carrière (writer)

Release Date:

15 March 1969 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Two tramps going on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, meet different christian heresies. They meet too the Marquis of Sade. |

Plot Keywords:

Religion | Surrealism | Bible | Virgin Mary | Bizarre

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Paul Frankeur	...	Pierre
Laurent Terzieff	...	Jean
Alain Cuny	...	L'homme à la cape / Man with cape
Edith Scob	...	La Vierge Marie / Virgin Mary
Bernard Verley	...	Jésus / Jesus
François Maistre	...	Le curé fou / French Priest
Claude Cerval	...	Le brigadier / Brigadier
Muni	...	La mère supérieure / Mother Superior
Julien Bertheau	...	Richard 'maître d'hôtel' / Maitre d'Hotel
Ellen Bahl	...	Madame Garnier
Michel Piccoli	...	Le marquis de Sade / The Marquis
Agnès Capri	...	La directrice de l'institution Lamartine / Teacher
Michel Etcheverry	...	L'inquisiteur / The Inquisitor
Pierre Clémenti	...	L'ange de la mort / The Devil
Georges Marchal	...	Le jésuite / The Jesuit

Also Known As:

Die Milchstraße (West Germany)
La via lattea (Italy)
The Milky Way (USA)

Runtime:

France:98 min | Germany:101 min | USA:105 min

Country:

France | West Germany | Italy

Language:

French | Italian | Latin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG | Finland:K-8 | Ireland:12 (DVD rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1993) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Forêt d'Halatte, Oise, France

Company:

Fraia Film

Goofs:

Continuity: During the seen with the "free love" Catholics in the forest, the wide angle shots are taken during the day, while the close-ups and medium shots are clearly not during the day.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Buñuel: Athée grâce à Dieu (2005) (V)

the most intelligent film satire of a religion EVER

This masterpiece is Bunuel at his best. It draws from the confrontational and revolutionary fire present in his Mexican films like "Il Brute", the intelligent and informed humor of his earlier religious farce, "Simon of The Desert", and I believe serves as a living picture of the transition his work seemed to under go between the more vivid and shocking Dali inspired surrealism of his early carrer (the obvious example being "Un Chien Andalou") and the more subtle and organic magical-realist influenced surrealism of "That Obscure Object of Desire". This film is certainly not light however. While there are no razor blindings or ant infested ears, the pope does fall victim to a firing squad of radicals. In fact I believe Bunuel succeds in leaving the viewer much more disgusted and upset by confronting him with the stark realities of the Catholic faith, and after all isn't that what surrealism is all about? It must be said that in order to understand and appreciate this film one must have a very good understanding of a variety of religious thinkers and of the history/practices of the catholic church. If you don't have such a background but are still lucky enough to get a chance to view this film, by all means take it, more likely than not it will inspire you to investigate the matter further and Bunuel conveniently mentions the names of all most all the writers he references in the film so take that list to a library, read up and watch it again, you won't be disappointed.