The Phantom of Liberty(Le fantôme de la liberté)

Made up of a series of interlocking yet disconnected stories, this savage comedy embraces cheerfully bizarre coincidences while challenging the inherent absurdity of social rituals and moral codes. Unbound by narrative logic, one wacky parable effortlessly leads to the next, each confronting a crisis of insanity, fetishism or human folly – the most famous sequence is turning defecation into a charming social ritual and dining into a shameful act to be performed in private. A nod to The Milky Way and also a tribute to Marx, the film’s title speaks it all – liberty is only a phantom!

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Silver Ribbon for Best Foreign Director