ABOUT THIS BOOK

Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel (1900–83), known for his surrealist themes and unflinching social criticism, was an artist defined by intellectual ambition and controversy. An exile who produced some of his most famous work in Mexico and France during Franco’s dictatorship, he left a complicated imprint on the creative landscape of the twentieth century and on generations of younger filmmakers—including his Mexican friend Claudio Isaac. Drawn from Isaac’s personal papers, Midday with Buñuel: Memories and Sketches, 1973–1983 is an intimate and unconventional portrait of this cinematic icon—and memoir of Isaac’s own artistic development.

The text includes sketches, vignettes, and anecdotes from Isaac’s notebooks, revealing his perspective first as a precocious boy and then as a young man. Isaac reflects on Buñuel’s presence among a community of exiles, artists, actors, writers, and intellectuals in Mexico City. These are at once touching, perceptive, and critical glimpses into Buñuel’s roles as husband and father, friend and colleague, surrealist, philosopher, and iconoclast during his last years. Throughout, Isaac’s words reveal his deep admiration and affection for an older friend full of contradictions. Intimate photographs from the Isaac family archive complement the writing, and Bryan Thomas Scoular’s careful translation makes this text available for the first time in English.

Part biography, part memoir, Midday with Buñuel brings to life the creative milieu of Mexico City and gives readers a privileged view of the relationship between these two filmmakers.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Claudio Isaac is a filmmaker, painter, novelist, poet, and contributor to various cultural journals and television arts programming in Mexico. Among his most recent films are Eraclio Zepeda: Una mañana de mayo and Vlady: Pintar or morir. He is the author of Alma húmeda. He lives in Mexico City.

REVIEWS

"It's an honor, indeed I'm glad, to join in giving a warm reception to a book that has given me many delightful moments."—Enrique Vila-Matas, author of Bartleby & Co.

— Enrique Vila-Matas, Enrique Vila-Matas

"This is an essential book to discover the more intimate Buñuel. The view of a young Claudio Isaac, with photographs and sketches illustrating his memories, provides us exceptional insight into those human and hidden aspects beyond the public persona of this brilliant film director."—Javier Espada, director, Fundación Centro Buñuel de Calanda

— Javier Espada, Javier Espada

“In a series of vignettes, dialogues, and journal entries, Claudio Isaac gives us a fascinating glimpse of Buñuel and his wife Jeanne Rucar and their friendship with a young man—fifty-seven years younger—who is making his way in the world of Mexican cinema. It is a vivid, memorable portrait. Affectionately, Isaac deals with Buñuel’s contradictions—his dogmatism and tenderness, his love and his contempt for cinema, his shyness and his exhibitionism—and his struggle against thoughtless ‘deification.”

— Christopher Maurer, Christopher Maurer

Winner of the 2007 ForeWord BOOK OF THE YEAR Silver Award

— Silver Award Winner, Biography, ForeWord 2007 Book of the Year Award

"I was both charmed and moved by Midday with Buñuel, Mexican filmmaker and writer Claudio Isaac's personal and very poetic recollection of his friendship with his mentor, the Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel."

— C. M. Mayo

“Just when Buñuel experts thought everything had been told about the Spanish surrealist auteur comes Midday with Buñuel: Memories and Sketches, 1973–1983, a new collection of anecdotes and remembrances by Claudio Isaac. . . . Isaac’s recollections of his very personal and enriching friendship with Buñuel are peppered with a variety of unpublished photographs, many of which transport the reader to another era. . . . His memories of the director fill a void in the historical record, for they become the first memories of a young Isaac, engaging with the elder surrealist for the better part of two decades in a teacher-student relationship about film, culture, obsessions, and ultimately life. . . .The English edition has been wonderfully illustrated and masterfully cared for by Swan Isle Press.”

— Gerardo T. Cummings Rendón, Hecho Teatral

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreward xi
For Further Reading xiv
Translator’s Note xv
Acknowledgments xvii

Prologue 3
The First Thing 4
The Entomologist 5
A Day in the Countryside 7
A Banquet 10
Jeanne 11
Luis 12
The Bar 13
Luis and my Father 15
Luis and my Mother 17
The Two Luises 19
Husbands and Wives 21
Sulphates 22
Competition 23
Two Letters 25
None of You Understand 28
The Son of a Civil Servant 29
Reading my Screenplay 30
Tears 31
Poem 33
Cardinal Virtue 34
Hearing and Not Hearing 36
Lip Reading 37
Vignette 38
Something about Me 39
Julio Alejandro 44
A Test 46
His Friend 47
Tell Your Mother Hello for Me 49
Kid 50
A Portrait 51
Titles 52
Frankly 53
Blush 54
Commonplace 56
Correcting and Inventing 57
Tango 58
The Second Castle 59
Authors 60
The Director and His Actors 61
With the President 62
Followers 64
Sons 65
Logic 67
Books 68
Condemnable, Condemnable 69
León 71
Antecedents 72
A Pair of Pugilists 73
Gazpacho 74
Informal Address 75
Point of View 76
The Alcorizas 78
Father Julián 82
Janet 84
To Speak Clearly but Not Very Loudly 85
Cloister 86

What They Left Us 87
The Two Halves 88
Close-Ups 91
Interview 93
Before Eating 94
Two Actresses, One Role 95
A Great Beard 96
Sculptor 97
Sculptor, Philosopher, or Filmmaker 98
In the Bookstore 100
Joyce 101
Hotel Room 102
My Notebooks 103
I Saw Him Dancing 108
Authority 110
With Paz 111
Voices 114
A Retreat 116
Jeanne’s Book 118
Rustic 120
Discrepancy 122
Don’t Kneel 124
Milton and His Daughters 125
Etymologies 126
The Man without Company 128
One More Drink 129
His Support 131
The Lowest Expression 132
Alchemist 134
Winter 136
Two Hallucinations 139
Price List 140
Between These Walls 141
Eternal (July 29, 1983) 142
To Luis Buñuel, on the Day of His Death 143
Legacy 144
What Did I Give Him? 145
December 28, 1990 146
April 3, 1993 147
Disarrangements 148
To Stay 149
Dream 150

Illustration Credits 153
About the Author 154