The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Ensayo de un crimen)

In Luis Buñuel’s darkly comic psychodrama, the rich and debonair Archibaldo, a would-be serial murderer, sees his passions and deadly impulses frustrated at every turn, only to find fate intervening on his behalf.

A key work of his Mexican period, Buñuel’s extraordinary The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz anticipates his later, more famous films with a gloriously twisted, ambiguous tale of bourgeois hysteria, sin and transgression. Full of pitch-black humour and Surrealist flourishes, the film is an unjustly neglected gem from one of cinema's greatest artists.