The Golden Age

How does one review this movie? A surrealist tale presented as a series of vignettes, the film offers no story. The lone through-line concerns two lovers struggling to consummate their relationship.

But the imagery, oh the imagery. A woman enters an ornate bedroom to find a large steer atop the bed. The cow stumbles off the bed and tramps around, sowing chaos. The woman pays it no mind. At a gala party full of upper-crust types set inside a mansion, a giant horse-drawn cart pushes through the partying masses who appear oblivious to its presence. Later, a servant screams and collapses, jets of flame shooting over her prone body. Again, the guests appear oblivious. A groundskeeper shoots an impish child. The guests notice, but their attention wanes fast.

L’Age d’Or abounds with such striking moments, and at just over an hour long, doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a film I can neither understand nor forget.