El
Omnifilms | Release Date: December 3, 1955 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
Though set in Mexico and ripe with authentic details from daily life, Él is less a portrait of machismo gone awry than it is a brutal and absurd glimpse at one man’s runaway paranoia. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
It is one of the simplest of Bunuel's films but is also among his most powerful and subtle. [17 Sep 1995, p.6]
80
The New YorkerRichard Brody
With eerie point-of-view shots, Buñuel gets inside the mind of a madman whose sadism is inseparable from his high social position; his commanding manner mirrors the folly and the cruelty of society at large. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The tone couldn't be further from the self-congratulation of an exercise like The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Read full review
80
The New YorkerPauline Kael
Bunuel's daring is fully apparent.
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Luis Bunuel has fashioned an absorbing melodramatic psycho pic out of El. Although the story [from the novel Pensiamentos by Mercedes Pinto] borders on the banal, fine direction and acting keep this within bounds, and give a dimension to the harrowing tale of a madman's attempt to love. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Bunuel remained true to his surrealist origins throughout his Mexican period, but the full command of his earliest and latest films, as well as such intermediate masterpieces as Los olvidados and The Exterminating Angel, resulted in stronger fare than this. Read full review
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