[2] The narrative concerns a group of French bourgeoisie and the fictional South American country of Miranda's ambassador to France attempting—despite continual interruptions—to dine together.
The film stars Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Julien Bertheau and Milena Vukotic.
There are no diners inside, and the party hurriedly departs shortly after discovering a vigil for the manager, who died a few hours earlier, in an adjoining room.
Acosta, François, and Alice's husband Henri meet the next day at the Mirandan embassy to discuss the proceeds of a large cocaine deal.
Acosta deduces that the Sénéchals know the police are coming and have fled to avoid arrest for their involvement in drug trafficking, prompting the group to leave in a panic.
After having announced that Tristana (1970) would be his last film because he felt he was repeating himself, Buñuel met with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and discussed the topic of repetition.
[4] Shortly afterwards, Buñuel met with film producer Serge Silberman, who told him an anecdote about having forgotten about a dinner party and being surprised to see six hungry friends show up at his front door.
He had more difficulty casting the female leads, and allowed Delphine Seyrig and Stéphane Audran to choose which parts they would like to play before changing the script to better suit them.
This resulted in a vastly different style than any of his previous films, including extensive use of zooms and tracking shots instead of his usual close-ups and static camera framing.
[10] Vincent Canby wrote: “In addition to being extraordinarily funny and perfectly acted, The Discreet Charm moves with the breathtaking speed and self-assurance that only a man of Buñuel’s experience can achieve without resorting to awkward ellipsis.”[11] Buñuel later said that he was disappointed with most critics' analysis of the film; he also disliked the film's promotional poster, depicting a pair of lips with legs and a bowler hat.
Buñuel did not attend his own press screening in Los Angeles and told a Newsweek reporter that his favorite characters in the film were the cockroaches which appear in one of the dream sequences.
While visiting Los Angeles, Buñuel, Carrière and Silberman were invited to a lunch party by Buñuel's old friend George Cukor where other guests included Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, George Stevens, Rouben Mamoulian, John Ford, William Wyler, Robert Mulligan and Robert Wise.
The website's consensus reads, "An intoxicating dose of the director's signature surrealist style, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie represents Buñuel at his most accessible.
[12][22] In January 2021, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie was released by The Criterion Collection as part of a Buñuel box set with its successors That Obscure Object of Desire and The Phantom of Liberty.
[27] In October 2014, Stephen Sondheim and David Ives announced that they were developing a new musical provisionally titled Square One, with a plot inspired by both The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Buñuel's 1962 film The Exterminating Angel, projected to open in 2017.
[29][30][31] Following Sondheim's death that November, Ives announced that the musical, retitled Here We Are, would have a limited engagement world premiere in September 2023 at The Shed in Manhattan.