Criterion Collection (series)

That Obscure Object Of Desire

Starring: Fernando Rey; Carole Bouquet; Angela Molina & Julien Bertheau Director: Luis Bunuel

DVD Features:

Audio:

• Mono - French
• Subtitles - English - Optional

Additional Release Material:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Production Interview - 1. Jean-Claude Carriere - Screenwriter
• Bonus Feature/Short - LA FEMME ET LE PANTIN - Jacques de Baroncelli

Text/Photo Galleries:

• Additional Text - Reprinted Interview with director Luis Bunuel

Description by OLDIES.com:

Luis Bunuel's final film explodes with eroticism, bringing full circle the director's lifelong preoccupation with the darker side of desire. Bunuel regular Fernando Rey plays Mathieu, an urbane widower, tortured by his lust for the elusive Conchita. With subversive flare, Bunuel uses two different actresses in the lead role - Carole Bouquet, a sophisticated French beauty, and Angela Molina, a Spanish coquette. Drawn from Pierre Louys' 1898 novel La Femme Et La Pantin, That Obscure Object Of Desire is a dizzying game of sexual politics punctuated by a terror that harkens back to Bunuel's brilliant surrealistic beginnings.

Product Description:

Luis Buñuel's last film is a celebration of the vigor of sexual obsession and the sovereignty of the subconscious. From the instant Mathieu (Fernando Rey) lays eyes on Conchita (played by both Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina), he cannot help but pursue this beautiful and unknowable young woman. She remains just outside his grasp, teasing him with the promise of fulfilled desire while always, finally, denying him the pleasure he wants. As Mathieu becomes more distraught, he resorts to extreme emotional blackmail by threatening to have her deported from France. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, an anarchic guerrilla group, is blowing up everything in sight. Nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Foreign Language Film, THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE is darkly humorous. Themes of sexual obsession and failed machismo in an atmosphere of civil upheaval recall Buñuel's earlier films like THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ and THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE. Employing his characteristic surrealistic tricks, Buñuel taunts the audience by using two actresses who look alike to play the female lead. The result is a tongue-in-cheek comedy of manners that embodies the familiar themes and extreme characters that Buñuel obsessively portrayed in films throughout his career.

Plot Keywords:

Drama | Essential Cinema | Recommended | Romance | Surreal | Theatrical Release

Production Notes:

• Theatrical Release: October 8, 1977.
• "That Obscure Object of Desire" was Luis Buñuel's last film, he died in 1980.
• Maria Schneider was originally cast as "Conchita," but was replaced after a month. "Conchita" was ultimately played at different points in the film by two different actresses, Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina.
• Pierre Louys' source novel was first made into a silent film in 1929 by French director Jacques De Baroncelli, featuring Conchita Montenegro; but it is better known as the basis for Josef von Sternberg's 1935 classic, "The Devil is a Woman," which starred Marlene Dietrich. Other films made from Louys' book include "La Femme et la Pantin" (directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Brigitte Bardot), and "The Female."
• Shown at the 1977 New York Film Festival.
• Voted One of the Year's Ten Best Films by Vincent Canby, Charles Champlin, Andrew Sarris, and Judith Crist.
• Named Best Foreign Film of 1977 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Named one of the Best 5 Foreign Films of 1977 by the National Board of Review.
• Buñuel was named Best Director of 1977 by the National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics.
• Co-produced by Les Films Galaxie (France) and In Cine (Spain).
• Distributed by GEF-CCFC.
• Color by Eastmancolor.

Cast and Crew: