Which 1972 surreal comedy directed by Luis Buñuel features characters repeatedly interrupted while trying to dine?

The 1972 surreal comedy in which characters are repeatedly interrupted while trying to dine is The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Luis Buñuel directed the film and co-wrote it with Jean-Claude Carrière, creating a deliberately unstable world in which dreams, political satire, and ordinary social rituals constantly overlap.

The central group includes wealthy French friends and the ambassador of the fictional South American nation of Miranda. Their attempts to share a meal are derailed by mistaken invitations, a restaurant manager’s funeral, military interruptions, arrests, dreams, and other increasingly absurd events. A recurring image of the group walking along an empty country road reinforces the film’s circular, unresolved structure.

The idea reportedly grew from producer Serge Silberman’s anecdote about unexpectedly arriving at a dinner party on the wrong evening. Buñuel transformed that social embarrassment into a critique of bourgeois manners, diplomacy, class privilege, and hypocrisy. The film won the 1973 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Belle de Jour and The Phantom of Liberty are also Buñuel films, but neither centers on this repeated failure to dine.