ESSAYS, ARTICLES, AND THEORIES ABOUT CINEMA: THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972)

For the audience, props serve as small linking keys to these situations, which turn bizarre in an instance. The use of props and their effect create a general theme, in which serves as clarity to the confused audience. Take the gun for example. Its metaphorical meaning lies in its iconography in the way it is compared to a glass. Buñuel shows characters with either guns or glasses in their hands throughout the entire film. By doing so, he links the bourgeois life of classy glasses filled with fancy champagnes and Martinis to the harsh violence brought about by someone getting shot with the gun. In the scene where Raphael shoots the Colonel, a gun is in his right hand and a glass of port in his left. This parallels the two together metaphorically, but also literally in the same frame. In fact, after firing the gun, he takes a sip out of the glass. Buñuel also makes it abundantly clear that props are used to convey meaning in the scene where Raphael holds the terrorist in captivity. He empties her purse and the contents are: bread,lettuce, a gun and a key, which he says goes to dreams. This is Buñuel visually showing the audience how the prop of the key itself is not only a metaphorical key to unlocking the dream to apprehend meaning, but also in this case the literal manifestation of a key. This is a “key” within a key, just as the story gives a “dream” within a dream.

Although certain props are reused throughout to create meaning for the audience, there are also individual props that are used to create meaning for the characters. Buñuel deliberately sets up scenes where the characters are forced to create meaning from the irrationality of the dream itself. Take for example in the scene when Raphael turns his back on the terrorist, she picks up the gun and thinks she has the upper-hand. She is countered by the gun not only being empty, but by Raphael quickly spinning around to reveal a gun in his hand. This shows how not only the audience searches for the meaning, but also the terrorist, who picks up the gun to find it is unloaded. The real meaning is in the other gun, the one the audience and the terrorist were not focusing on. Also, the characters are forced to accept meaning conveyed through props in the scene where the bourgeoisie gang sits down to eat a meal at the Colonel’s home. Through its use of props, the characters become aware of the fantasy or dream they are inside. The sister approaches what appears to be a wall of weapons. Upon touching it, she notices the surface is merely that of a painting. After toasting to their health with the Whiskey set out, Raphael discovers the identity of the drink actually is Quasi-Cola. And finally, the last example in the scene is the butler dropping the two turkeys on the floor, which are then put in front of the guests and are dropped, creating a hollow sound. By its use of props, the elicited reaction from the characters is realization.