MovieChat Forums > El ángel exterminador (1967) Discussion > The certain sacrifice

The certain sacrifice

posted 10 years ago by Miguel_Cane
2 replies | jump to latest

BEWARE SPOILERS

It is implied that, when the mob is irate and intend to sacrifice Señor de Nobile, that another sacrifice has taken place.
Not one of blood, but rather other thing. If you all remember, La Walkyria is a virgin, and remains so ostensibly throughout the film. However, why does Edmundo thank her for something she gave freely -- as he clearly says in the scene preceding the resolution -- after both of them have absconded for several minutes behind a curtain?

My take is that Leticia, la Walkyria, sacrifices her virginity so that everyone can leave. Of course, it's only an interpretation, but if you look closely at the scene, you may find it might be one of the myriad intentions in Bunuel's plot.

And it's, evidently, open to any interpretation.
_________________________
Witches... All of them witches... unspeakable, unspeakable!

[–] howdoesitfeelIMDb 9 years ago

I get what you're trying to point out, but I don't think it's about sacrifice per se. It seems to me that Leticia just has an epiphany/flashback of sorts: after everything they've been through, they finally come back full-circle to their original positions right before they got trapped inside the room, and so must reenact the scene preceding their captivity.

When you compare that scene with the one at the very end in the church when the priests get stuck, it seems to me that the main element is not so much sacrifice (which is more linked to, say, the lambs) than ritual. The performing of arts in a bourgeois soiree and the subsequent conventional congratulating can be seen as a ritual in the same manner that a Catholic mass is, with all its symbols, its precise gestures and so on.

Anyway, that's my take on events which are not meant to make logical sense, according to the writer and director himself!

[–] Towelie_Towel (1699) 4 years ago

Makes some sense.