Cet obscur objet du désir (1977)

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel (scenario)
Jean-Claude Carrière (collaboration)

Release Date:

8 October 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Just after boarding a train, much to the surprise of his fellow passengers, a man pours a bucket of water over a young girl on the platform...

Plot Keywords:

Surrealism | Absurdism | Spain | Absurd Humor | Satire

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Fernando Rey	...	Mathieu
Carole Bouquet	...	Conchita
Ángela Molina	...	Conchita (as Angela Molina)
Julien Bertheau	...	Judge
André Weber	...	Valet (as Andre Weber)
Milena Vukotic	...	Woman in train
María Asquerino
Ellen Bahl	...	Manolita
Valerie Blanco		(as Valérie Blanco)
Auguste Carrière	...	La femme qui reprise dans la vitrine (as Auguste Carriere)
Jacques Debary	...	Un voyageur
Antonio Duque
André Lacombe
Lita Lluch-Peiro
Annie Monange

Also Known As:

Ese oscuro objeto del deseo (Spain)
That Obscure Object of Desire (USA)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

France | Spain

Language:

French | Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Ireland:15 | West Germany:12 (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Sweden:15 | USA:R | UK:15 | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Giralda Tower, Sevilla, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Greenwich Film Productions

Trivia:

Maria Schneider, frequently nude in Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) (Last Tango in Paris), walked off the film in protest at the amount of nude scenes.

Quotes:

Mathieu: My Conchita...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Celebrity (1998)

Soundtrack:

La Walkyrie

interpretation

I think Rey represents a sort of older, more humanist view of the world. The sac is a throwback to this. It also lends him a sort of imagery, as a worker, a man who made it on his own. The girl, is the new world, of terrorism, nudity, frigidity. At the end, the two have joined. He has given up his sack, she has given up her virginity. Their game is over. The end scenes are shot in silence till the very end. The explosion, perhaps it indicates Bunuel's negative view of the future.

I always get thrown off by these great 70s movies. The color printing is so bad, it looks comical. Why do you have to put 10 lines of text? That's daft.