La voie lactée (The Milky Way). 1969. France/West Germany/Italy. Directed by Luis Buñuel. Screenplay by Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière. With Laurent Terzieff, Paul Frankeur, Michel Piccoli. In French; English subtitles. 102 min.
A surprising hit in revolutionary 1968 France, this burlesque of Catholic dogma, which Buñuel called his “journey through fanaticism,” follows two French vagabonds who bum their way to the Spanish holy city of Santiago de Compostella, their faith(-lessness) tested by comically outrageous encounters with the living mysteries of the Holy Trinity, the duality of Christ, and the Virgin Mary, and with heretics throughout the ages (the Marquis de Sade and the Whore of Babylon make particularly notable cameos).
35mm print from The Museum of Modern Art; courtesy Rialto Pictures
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