O feitiozinho de Luis Buñuel (IV)

"Perhaps Buñuel’s most reprehensible act in relation to his wife involved her beloved piano, a gift from Jeannette Alcoriza, wife of the scriptwriter, Luis Alcoriza. This was an instrument that Jeanne enjoyed playing everyday, as Buñuel well knew, but one evening, after dinner and after drinking a copious amount of alcohol, the daughter of a family friend suggested that Buñuel give her the piano in exchange for three bottles of champagne. Jeanne initially thought that this was a joke, but to her horror the exchange took place on the following day (Rucar de Buñuel, 106). Despite her feelings of outrage at such a thoughtless act, she remained silent, as she invariably did when her husband treated her in the ways described earlier. Later, he regretted what he had done and, as compensation, bought her – typically – a sewing machine and – more thoughtfully – an accordion, but such gifts can barely excuse Buñuel’s inconsiderate behaviour. The bitterness that Jeanne must have felt surely remained with her for the rest of her life, for when she produced her autobiography she chose to call it Reminiscences of aWoman Without a Piano (Memorias de una mujer sin piano).

in A Companion to Luis Buñuel, Gwynne Edwards