Cet obscur objet du désir (1977)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

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

Release Date:

8 October 1977 (USA)

Genre:

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:

Terrorism | Surrealism | Temptress | Absurdism | Frustration

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

Using two actresses for one role not a planned plot device

Contrary to the initial comment on this page, the director Luis Bunuel did not use two different actresses to play the lead role as a plot device to show "One actress for her placid nature and another actress for her tempermental side."

While this is an oft-repeated misconception, it's not remotely true. In Luis Bunuel's autobiography, "My Last Sigh" (A fantastic book, still in print) the director discusses the reason for this unique directorial device, and how funny he finds it that so many "fans" assume that the choices were based on the actresses temperment or his desire to "express" something obscure. In truth, two actresses were used simply because the lead actress quit partway through production after having completed many critical scenes. Luis was beside himself over the wasted time and money in reshooting, so he hired a replacement to shoot only the missing scenes, and edited them irregardless of who was acting in a given scene. It served him well, as the end result was brilliant.