The author of this biography of Bunuel spent time in Paris and Mexico to interview people who worked with the director and family and friends, including Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau and Bunuel's sons. Luis Bunuel was a surrealist who worked with great figures of the movement but was influenced little by them, a man of ascetic habits who was also a 50-year alcoholic, an eroticist but one with little physical interest in women, and an anarchist who carried a bow-tie in his pocket so as to be properly attired for formal occassions.