This set is, not surprisingly, absolutely bursting with supplementary material. Much of it has been ported over from the original Criterion DVD releases, but quite a bit of it is new, as well. On The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie disc, we get a pair of outstanding documentaries from the original 2000 DVD: The first, El náufrago de la calle de Providencia (The Castaway on the Street of Providence), is a 24-minute documentary homage compiled by Arturo Ripstein and Rafael Castanedo, long-time friends of Buñuel’s with whom he used to drink martinis and have long talks while they were living in Mexico. The majority of the footage was filmed during these evening get-togethers in 1970, and the documentary is composed largely of Buñuel’s friends talking about him, as well as footage of Buñuel himself carefully making martinis, which to him was akin to a religious experience. The second documentary, A propósito de Buñuel (Speaking of Buñuel), is feature-length (it runs roughly 98 minutes). Directed by Jose Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo, it is an engaging examination of Buñuel’s entire career, from birth to death. It features on-camera interviews with several dozen people, including Buñuel’s two sons, many of his closest friends, and numerous actors and writers with whom he worked. The film will be interesting to both Buñuel novices and those who are familiar with his cinematic oeuvre, which spans 50 years and multiple countries. López-Linares and Rioyo follow Buñuel all over the world, from his initial collaborations with Spanish surrealists like Salvador Dalí, to his brief work at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, to his extended career in Mexico (where he became a citizen), to his return to his native Spain. Although it does not cover in-depth every film Buñuel made (that would be quite a chore, considering that he directed 32 films), it does focus on Un Chien Andalou (1928), L’age d’or (1930), Las Hurdes (1932), Los olvidados (1950), Rehearsal for a Crime (1955), Virdiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962), Simon of the Desert (1965), Tristana (1970), and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). New to this edition is a 52-minute episode of the documentary series Once Upon a Time from 2011 that offers a deep dive into the film’s production and cultural history that includes interviews with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, actors Stephane Audran and Bulle Ogier, and first assistant director Pierre Lary, among others. We also get “The Making of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” a 14-minute episode from 1972 of the French program Pour le cinéma that includes footage of Buñuel working on the set, as well as with interviews with him and actors Stephane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Bulle Ogier, Fernando Rey, and Delphine Seyrig.

On The Phantom of Liberty disc, we get the same five-minute “introduction” to the film by co-screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, which is really an excerpt from a video interview recorded in 2000. He briefly discusses writing the script with Buñuel and what they were trying to accomplish (his favorite bit is the story about the parents looking for the lost child who is with them the whole time). Also included is “Analysis of The Phantom of Liberty,” a 20-minute visual essay from 2017 by film scholar Peter William Evans (author of The Films of Luis Buñuel: Subjectivity and Desire) that covers quite a bit of ground, with particular focus on Buñuel’s political, artistic, and cultural inspirations. We also get a 1974 episode of the French television series Pour le cinéma featuring Michel Piccoli and Jean-Claude Brialy; a 1974 episode of the French television series Le dernier des cinq that also features Brialy; and The Producers, a half-hour program from 1985 about producer Serge Silberman, who worked with Buñuel on five of his final seven films, including the three in this box set..

That Obscure Object of Desire’s disc is arguably the most loaded of the three. It ports over most of the supplements from the 2001 DVD, including an 18-minute video interview with Carrière, in which he discusses working with Buñuel, Buñuel’s directorial style, and the idea of using two actresses for the role of Conchita, among other things. We also get the inclusion of three scenes from Jacques de Baroncelli’s 1929 silent film version of La Femme et le pantin, the negatives for which were rediscovered in the 1990s. The three scenes—Conchita’s nude dance, her mocking Mathieu from behind the iron gate, and Mathieu’s violent attack on her the next day—correspond closely to scenes in Buñuel’s version (despite being a silent film, Baroncelli’s version is no less erotic or explicit in terms of nudity). Added to that, we get Lady Doubles, a 38-minute documentary from 2017 that includes interviews with Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina, the two actresses who played Conchita; Portrait of an Impatient Filmmaker, Luis Buñuel, a 16-minute documentary from 2012 that includes interviews with cinematographer Edmond Richard and assistant director Pierre Lary, who recall their experiences collaborating with Buñuel on numerous projects; a 15-minute episode of the French television program Le monde du cinéma from 1977 featuring Carriére, Rey, and Silberman; “Remembering Buñuel”, a 30-minute episode of the French program Allons au cinéma from 1977 that documents a conversation among Carriére and actors Julien Bertheau, Muni, Michel Piccoli, and Fernando Rey about their experiences with Buñuel.

All three discs includes original theatrical trailers, and the insert booklet features essays by critic Adrian Martin and novelist and critic Gary Indiana, along with interviews with Buñuel by critics José de la Colina and Tomás Pérez Turrent. All in all, this is a superb package that gives the films a fine presentation and is loaded with supplementary material.