The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Ensayo de un crimen) (ej svensk text) (Blu-ray)

In Luis Buñuel’s darkly comic psychodrama, a reawakened childhood memory convinces rich, cultured Archibaldo that he is able to cause the death of others. But his murderous impulses are frustrated at every turn, driving him to find ever more inventive ways to fulfil his desires. A key work of his Mexican period, Buñuel’s gloriously twisted The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz anticipates his later works with an ambiguous tale of bourgeois hysteria, transgression and erotic obsession. Full of pitch-black humour and Surrealist flourishes, the film is an unjustly neglected gem from one of cinema’s greatest artists.