The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz — The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Blu Ray)
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz is a mid-1950s Mexican-set psycho drama/ pitch black comedy from key cinematic surrealist Luis Buñuel. It regards a well-to-do pottery, his psychotic tendencies, and whether or not he’s a murderer. The film blends skewed/ mocking drama with moments of woozy macabreness, uneasy surrealism, and almost giddy derangement. Here from Second Run is a new Blu-Ray- featuring a 4k scan, a selection of video essays, and a few other things.
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Aka Ensayo De Un Crimen) is from the year 1955. It was directed/co-written by Buñuel. Based on the 1944 novel Ensayo De Un Crimen by Rodolfo Usigli. The film is shot in black and white, with Spanish dialogue.
We open with a voice-over flashback to the Mexican Revolution, where we see a rather spoiled and obnoxious ten-year-old boy. His rich mother is getting ready to go out- he’s hiding in the wardrobe dressed in her clothes, and giving his nanny the run around. In an effort to calm him down/ focus him on something, the mother presents him with a music box. The nanny makes up a story about the music box be able to kill those its owner wants dead- she goes to the widow to see where the sounds of gunshots are coming from, to be promptly shot. She collapses on the floor- blood puddling around her, with her skirt raised, showing her suspenders and stocking-covered legs.
We then move to the present day, where the little boy is all grown up. The moustached and neatly-brilliant cream-haired Archibaldo de la Cruz (Ernesto Alonso) is lying in a hospital bed, relating his story to a nun nurse. She briefly steps out of the room, so he moves over to the dresser, where he pulls out a case full of several cutthroat razors and selects one of the blades. So, when she returns to the room, he comes at her, ready to kill- she panics, runs out of the room, promptly falls down an elevator shaft.
We next see a doctor and judge discussing Archibaldo – he’s in the hospital for seemingly having a breakdown after the death of his wife. Archibaldo burst into the room, saying he has to confess to the murders he had carried out, and once again, we flash back to the past.
We find out he’s a well-respected potter- with a large house and servants. He’s charming and somewhat of a ladies' man- and over the rest of the film's runtime, we see him pursuing one woman after another. Sometimes his infatuation is brief, and sometimes more long-term…but there’s a problem: he’s constantly planning their murder, and this is increased when he finds & buys the music box from his youth.
Alonso is excellent in the lead role- managing to blend charm, macabre intent, and disquieting derangement. The rest of the cast is also good/ well picked, with notable mentions going to Rita Macedo as an obnoxious flirt/money-grabbing possible lover.
The whole film seesaws between you thinking that Archibaldo is either delusional or really is a murderer, with some wonderful skewed and woozily macabre moments. For example, at one point, he purchases a mannequin that looks just like one of his love interests/potential victims- and then introduces the doll to her.
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz is an excellent example of a suspenseful/sinisterly unbalancing psycho drama. Been skilful, scoped/executed- with a sinisterly mischievous tone- with wonderful darts into macabre surrealism.
The films quoted as having been an influence on Hitchcock’s Vertigo, but I can see its influences felt in a lot of other films. For example, the moments' psycho-sexual dreaminess and woozy organ soundtracking clearly inspired Dario Argento in similar scenes in his 1982 giallo Tenebrae.
This region-free Blu-ray features a 4k scan- the black and white stock largely looks clear/ well defined. With the English subtitles being easy to read.
On the disc, we get a few extras. From 2015, we get a three-part series of video essays by writer and filmmaker Cristina Álvarez López- each of these lasts between three and five minutes, looking at different facets of Buñuel’s development. There’s a 2026 visual essay from film historian/Mexican film expert Professor David Wilt(26.24). He moves from giving an overview of Buñuel’s twenty years of working on film in Mexico, before moving on to focus on the film at hand. Talking about its key actors, the film's themes, and much more- this is well worth a play. There’s also a PDF of the original script
The release comes with a twenty-four-page inlay booklet- this features writing from film scholar/ Buñuel expert Jordi Xifra, and Cristina Álvarez López. As well as full credits/ some great behind-the-scenes stills- like a photo of Buñuel standing with an actress & her identical mannequin.
It truly is wonderful to see this Second Run release of The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, as it’s both a truly great example of the psycho drama genre, and a key/ important film in the development of Buñuel's cinematic craft.