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1920s – today

Surrealism and the Avant-Garde

Dream logic, shocking imagery and a rejection of conventional storytelling.

Some filmmakers have always treated cinema as a form closer to painting, music or dreams than to theatre. In the 1920s Paris avant-garde, Man Ray, René Clair, Germaine Dulac and Jean Cocteau made short films about rhythm, chance and the unconscious, and Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Un chien andalou (1929) shocked audiences with dream images. The tradition continued with Buñuel's later satires, Jan Švankmajer's animated nightmares, Alejandro Jodorowsky's mystical films, Peter Greenaway and David Lynch. It is less a school than a repeated refusal of realism in favour of the irrational.

Where
France first, then Spain, Mexico, Czechoslovakia, the US and Britain
When
1920s to the present
Key figures
Luis Buñuel, Jean Cocteau, René Clair, Jan Švankmajer, Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Peter Greenaway
Landmark films
Un chien andalou (1929), Beauty and the Beast (1946), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), Eraserhead (1977)
Legacy
Gave cinema permission to follow dream logic and has fed experimental film, music video and fantasy

What to look for

  • Dream logic, odd images and no clear explanation
  • Attacks on bourgeois morality, religion and convention
  • Strong interest in the unconscious, desire and the body

Famous Directors

Luis BuñuelSpain / MexicoAlejandro JodorowskyChile / FranceDavid LynchUSAJean CocteauFranceJan ŠvankmajerCzech Republic (Czechoslovakia)Teinosuke KinugasaJapanWalter RuttmannGermanyRaúl RuizChile / France

Top films · 59 films

  1. Los Olvidados 1950 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 8.2
  2. The Elephant Man 1980 · David Lynch · IMDb 8.2
  3. Dimensions of Dialogue 1982 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 8.1
  4. Viridiana 1961 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 8.0
  5. The Straight Story 1999 · David Lynch · IMDb 8.0
  6. El 1953 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.9
  7. The Exterminating Angel 1962 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.9
  8. Beauty and the Beast 1946 · Jean Cocteau · IMDb 7.9
  9. Mulholland Drive 2001 · David Lynch · IMDb 7.9
  10. Simon of the Desert 1965 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.8
  11. That Obscure Object of Desire 1977 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.8
  12. Orpheus 1950 · Jean Cocteau · IMDb 7.8
  13. Nazarín 1959 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.7
  14. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 1972 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.7
  15. The Phantom of Liberty 1974 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.7
  16. The Holy Mountain 1973 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 7.7
  17. Blue Velvet 1986 · David Lynch · IMDb 7.7
  18. Un chien andalou 1929 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.6
  19. Belle de Jour 1967 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.6
  20. The Flat 1968 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.6
  21. Lost Highway 1997 · David Lynch · IMDb 7.6
  22. Endless Poetry 2016 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 7.5
  23. Tristana 1970 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.4
  24. Santa Sangre 1989 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 7.4
  25. The Dance of Reality 2013 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 7.4
  26. Alice (1988) 1988 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.4
  27. A Page of Madness 1926 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · IMDb 7.3
  28. Land Without Bread 1933 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.3
  29. Faust (1994) 1994 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.3
  30. Conspirators of Pleasure 1996 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.3
  31. Little Otik 2000 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.3
  32. Mysteries of Lisbon 2010 · Raúl Ruiz · IMDb 7.3
  33. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me 1992 · David Lynch · IMDb 7.3
  34. El Topo 1970 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 7.2
  35. Surviving Life 2010 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.2
  36. Eraserhead 1977 · David Lynch · IMDb 7.2
  37. Wild at Heart 1990 · David Lynch · IMDb 7.2
  38. Crossroads 1928 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · IMDb 7.1
  39. Gate of Hell 1953 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · IMDb 7.1
  40. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927 · Walter Ruttmann · IMDb 7.1
  41. L'Âge d'Or 1930 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.1
  42. The Testament of Orpheus 1960 · Jean Cocteau · IMDb 7.1
  43. Lunacy 2005 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.1
  44. Three Crowns of the Sailor 1982 · Raúl Ruiz · IMDb 7.1
  45. Melody of the World 1929 · Walter Ruttmann · IMDb 6.9
  46. Les Parents terribles 1948 · Jean Cocteau · IMDb 6.9
  47. Time Regained 1999 · Raúl Ruiz · IMDb 6.9
  48. Three Sad Tigers 1968 · Raúl Ruiz · IMDb 6.9
  49. Inland Empire 2006 · David Lynch · IMDb 6.8
  50. Fando and Lis 1968 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 6.7
  51. Genealogies of a Crime 1997 · Raúl Ruiz · IMDb 6.4
  52. Dune (1984) 1984 · David Lynch · IMDb 6.2
  53. Weekend (1930) 1930 · Walter Ruttmann · IMDb 6.0
  54. The Rainbow Thief 1990 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · IMDb 5.8
  55. Yukinojo's Revenge 1935 · Teinosuke Kinugasa
  56. Lichtspiel: Opus I 1921 · Walter Ruttmann
  57. The Eagle Has Two Heads 1948 · Jean Cocteau
  58. The Blood of a Poet 1930 · Jean Cocteau
  59. Insects 2018 · Jan Švankmajer