The acclaimed debut film by Spanish director Luis Buñuel, made in collaboration with the artist Salvador Dalí, is considered the great classic of surrealist film. The iconic opening sequence of an eye that is sliced with a razor blade is followed by other unforgettable images that together form a loose narrative about a young man’s constantly failing attempt to seduce a young woman. At the same time, these images somehow remain disconnected and offer ample room for interpretation. The most recent restoration was carried out in 2021 by the Cinémathèque française in collaboration with the Filmoteca Española.

The male protagonist of UN CHIEN ANDALOU fits perfectly the sexually repressed, guilt-ridden Buñuel who emerges from his autobiography, as well as from his wife’s memoirs. […] His deep-seated fear of women is expressed very clearly in the film’s female protagonist. […] Buñuel and Dalí […] were highly conscious of and disturbed by the fact that female tranquillity could well conceal powerful and aggressive sexual appetites, and in UN CHIEN ANDALOU this is precisely the kind of woman the protagonist proves to be. […] She is indeed the sexually aggressive woman Buñuel feared, an echo of no doubt of the various women who had displayed amorous intentions towards him and from whom he so often succeeded in escaping. […] When she is finally killed by a passing car, her death can be seen in a variety of ways, one of which could well be linked to Buñuel’s desire, as the all-powerfull film-maker, to put an end to the kind of woman he was afraid of.

Gwynne Edwards: A Companion to Luis Buñuel. Woodbridge 2005

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