Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

in Paris. I remember running into him in Paris, in 1955, while wewere both on our way to visit Ionesco. Since we were early, we decidedto stop and have a drink. I asked him why Max Ernst had beenexcommunicated for winning first prize at the Biennale in Venice."What did you expect, mon cher ami?" he replied. "We separatedourselves from Dali, who'd become nothing more than a moneyhungryart dealer, and now we've gotten rid of Max, who's done thesame!"He remained silent for a while, his face a mask of chagrin."It's sad, mm cher Luis," he added, "but it's no longer possibleto scandalize anybody !"I was in Paris when he died, and, disguised in dark glasses anda hat, I went to the funeral at the cemetery. (I didn't want to berecognized, or to have to talk to people I hadn't seen for forty years.)The service was short and silent, and afterwards each mourner wenthis separate way. I regretted only that no one said a few words overhis grave as a last goodbye.As for me, there was no going back after Un Chien andalou;making a commercial film was totally out of the question. No matterwhat the cost, I wanted to stay a surrealist. At the same time, Icouldn't bring myself to ask my mother for more money, and sincethere seemed to be no other solution, I gave up the cinema. Over aperiod of time, however, I'd kept a list of gags and ideas and images-likea cart laden with workers rumbling through a literarysalon, or a father shooting his own son because the boy droppedcigarette ashes on the floor. I read my notes to Dali during a trip toSpain, and he was intrigued; there had to be some sort of film there,but how could we do it?Clearly, it was a question of introductions. When I got back toParis, Zervos from the Cabiers d'Art put me in touch with Georges-Henri Rivikre, who offered to introduce me to his friends the deNoailles, who had apparently "adored" Un Chien andafou. As a goodsurrealist, I figured one couldn't expect much from aristocrats."But you're wrong," said both Zervos and Rivikre. "They'remarvelous people, and you must get to know them!"