The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Monsoon Wedding both present an attempt to understand the role of class in society. Luis Buñuel in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, as the title itself suggests, brutally targets the six bourgeoisie of the story, the middle-class idolaters whose power is often abused for their own ends at the expense of others. Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding, on the other hand, seemingly cloaks the role of class in her celebration of The Big Fat Indian Wedding.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Monsoon Wedding both present an attempt to understand the role of class in society.
Having said that, we should keep in mind the targeted theme of both the films before delving deep into the multiple layers that the films present to us. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, a comedy that carries a ‘hit right on the face’ attitude, is more like a dig in the ribs, sly and painful portrayal of class relations, while Monsoon Wedding‘s primary theme is a warm-hearted ode to family values and Indian culture.
Buñuel’s surrealism exposing hypocrisy and moral decay of the modern society in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Buñuel, the master of cinematic surrealism offers a scathing satire of bourgeoisie social mores, where six upper middle class friends repeatedly try to have dinner together but find their plans interrupted by various bizarre events. The film has similarities with Buñuel’s own The Exterminating Angel (1962) where a group of guests arrive for dinner, enjoy it and then cannot leave the room. In The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, the guests arrive for dinner and sometimes even sit down for it, but are never able to eat. They arrive on the wrong night, or are alarmed to find the corpse of the restaurant owner in the next room, or are interrupted by military manoeuvers. One thing or the other stops them from having a good hearty meal.
Dinner is considered the central social ritual of the middle classes, it’s a way of displaying wealth and sophisticated manners. The running joke in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is the way Buñuel interrupts the meals with dark secrets that cover the pretense of the bourgeoisie society: secrets of adultery, drug dealing, military coups, perversion and the paralysis of boredom. His central characters are ambassadors, the military and the rich and a bishop whose unusual fetish is to dress up as a gardener and work as a servant in the gardens of the wealthy.
Buñuel perhaps deliberately used dining to satirise the bourgeoisie’s desire to demonstrate that humans are always hungry but never satisfied. They are always looking to gain one more slice of the bread. The film explores a common fear among middle and upper-class people: that the aristocratic functions that give them privilege and social status will one day fail, forcing them to share their caviar, champagne, and spoils.
Mira Nair’s nuanced portrayal of class tensions within the context of an Indian wedding
Monsoon Wedding on the other hand doesn’t present us with an explicit understanding of class, but gives the viewers ample chance to interrogate it through the lens of its varied characters. The film follows the events in the large Verma family of Delhi, as their daughter Aditi prepares to marry NRI Hemant settled in Houston.
The ever charming Vijay Raaz, is P.K. Dubey, the wedding planner who is smitten by the beauty of the Verma’s family maid Alice. There are a dozen other characters, but they are not important for this analysis. As mentioned earlier, the role of class-tensions does not prominently play out in the film, but here too the intricacies of class politics are markedly evident.
Aditi and Alice: contrasting marital realities
For instance if we observe the two marriages in the film, of Aditi and Alice, they work as complete contrasts to one another. On the one hand, Alice is shown in a socio-economically disadvantaged and alienated situation, wherein she dreams to have a decent life and marriage for herself.
For instance if we observe the two marriages in the film, of Aditi and Alice, they work as complete contrasts to one another.
On the other hand, Aditi is the lively, upper-class girl hopelessly entwined in a lurid affair with her married boss. Aditi is privileged enough to try out her journey of married life, with a grand Punjabi wedding marking her departure to a ‘new breath of fresh air’, which stands in stark contrast with the simple marriage of hearts that Alice and P.K. Dubey get.
Mira Nair depicts the last scene of the film very elegantly, wherein she portrays both the marriages of Alice and Aditi, to come to a joyous end. Amidst typical bollywood scenes of dancing in the rain, Nair tries to highlight the flattening of socio-cultural differences in a dance sequence, as if it’s not a momentary period of joy, but a coming together of class relations. It depicts the marginal working-class characters joining in the celebratory final dance within the marriage tent of the Vermas.
Although Alice and Dubey are invited inside the privileged circle of the Vermas, there is no reason to believe that Alice and Aditi transcend their socio-economic and cultural contexts and give in to a utopian classless, borderless society. They are simply a part of a community of different married women captured together. Once the fanfare of the four-day wedding concludes, things get back to usual. Aditi flies away from Delhi and settles down in Houston and Alice, hopefully, retains her maid’s job at the Vermas.
Navigating class realities: contextual contrasts in cinematic narratives
In conclusion, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Monsoon Wedding portray class relations which are embedded in their specific cultural landscapes. Buñuel’s greatest commercial and critical success probes the immorality and fabrication of the European bourgeoisie by the means of surrealism stripping the façade of formality to show inherent hidden hypocrisy.
On the opposite side, Mira Nair’s poignant portrayal of class conflict within the background of a luxurious Big Fat Indian Wedding shows a more complex reflection of societal norms and interpersonal relationships in the context of Indian middle-class life.
In conclusion, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Monsoon Wedding portray class relations which are embedded in their specific cultural landscapes.
Despite their differing settings and narrative styles, both films provide profound insights into the complexities of class struggle and societal structures, inviting viewers to contemplate the universal themes of privilege, power, and social identity across diverse cultural landscapes.
