Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 6, 2020 10:09:50 GMT -8
That Obscure Object of Desire
Here is a nice French film from 1977. Fernando Rey stars as Mathieu, a man infatuated with the Spanish 18-year-old Conchita (Ángela Molina & Carole Bouquet...I'm not sure about the story of why two different actresses took part). She plays hard-to-get and he plays infatuate fool.
We don’t really ever know what’s going on in her head as she strings Mathieu along. But she seems to like torturing this guy for the sake of doing so. In the end, there is no precise conclusion other than that she is indeed a little off kilter.
Woven into this is the attempt to bring gravitas to what is otherwise a romantic (although sometimes dark) comedy. Terrorists and explosions weave their wave into and out of the film here and there. It’s an attempt to add weight and importance to the film with, at best, sketchy symbolism. It’s interesting as a backdrop, but is clearly an affectation that should have been resisted.
But what does work is Mathieu — having once and for all broken from this girl — telling his story to a car full of first-class passengers on a train that is bound for somewhere. This back-and-forth between him telling the story on the train to his fellow passengers and then flashing back to his relationship with Conchita is very well done. Despite what I think is the unnecessary terrorist add-on subplot, this is one of the best uses of flashback I’ve ever seen.
The acting is first-rate throughout. Yes, you will get a little tired of Mathieu’s fecklessness, but then it’s still believable all the same. And you won’t find it at all hard to believe that there are semi-psychotic little girls like Conchita running around out there. They show up on CNN ever night these days.
Many will be enthralled with the dramatic ending that ties in with the overall terrorist shtick woven into this film. But it’s overkill and the result, to my mind, of a tin ear. It wasn’t needed. Despite all this, That Obscure Object of Desire is an interesting film that will hold your attention.
The symbolism is rather heavy-handed and detracts from what is a sometimes harsh romantic comedy. But then these are French filmmakers and if you didn’t know that a certain amount of weirdness is almost required then you haven’t seen too many French movies. Apparently the director, Luis Buñuel, was a Communist. One reviewer writes (heavy spoilers here):
Thus you can understand Samuel Goldwyn’s famous quote: “If you've got a message, send a telegram.” This is a film that is top-heavy in attempted messages — messages that probably possess a lot of meaning to a warped Communist mindset but to those looking to be entertained by a movie are just so much pretentious fluff.
Still, watching foreign films is at least half about seeing something a little different. And this film doesn’t disappoint in this regard. You just won’t find me foolishly falling all over myself praising this movie for being “important” or some such nonsense. It’s a romantic comedy with pretensions of being something more — completely in line with Communists and other wackos.
Here is a nice French film from 1977. Fernando Rey stars as Mathieu, a man infatuated with the Spanish 18-year-old Conchita (Ángela Molina & Carole Bouquet...I'm not sure about the story of why two different actresses took part). She plays hard-to-get and he plays infatuate fool.
We don’t really ever know what’s going on in her head as she strings Mathieu along. But she seems to like torturing this guy for the sake of doing so. In the end, there is no precise conclusion other than that she is indeed a little off kilter.
Woven into this is the attempt to bring gravitas to what is otherwise a romantic (although sometimes dark) comedy. Terrorists and explosions weave their wave into and out of the film here and there. It’s an attempt to add weight and importance to the film with, at best, sketchy symbolism. It’s interesting as a backdrop, but is clearly an affectation that should have been resisted.
But what does work is Mathieu — having once and for all broken from this girl — telling his story to a car full of first-class passengers on a train that is bound for somewhere. This back-and-forth between him telling the story on the train to his fellow passengers and then flashing back to his relationship with Conchita is very well done. Despite what I think is the unnecessary terrorist add-on subplot, this is one of the best uses of flashback I’ve ever seen.
The acting is first-rate throughout. Yes, you will get a little tired of Mathieu’s fecklessness, but then it’s still believable all the same. And you won’t find it at all hard to believe that there are semi-psychotic little girls like Conchita running around out there. They show up on CNN ever night these days.
Many will be enthralled with the dramatic ending that ties in with the overall terrorist shtick woven into this film. But it’s overkill and the result, to my mind, of a tin ear. It wasn’t needed. Despite all this, That Obscure Object of Desire is an interesting film that will hold your attention.
The symbolism is rather heavy-handed and detracts from what is a sometimes harsh romantic comedy. But then these are French filmmakers and if you didn’t know that a certain amount of weirdness is almost required then you haven’t seen too many French movies. Apparently the director, Luis Buñuel, was a Communist. One reviewer writes (heavy spoilers here):
The old man, in his part of the game represents the old way against which a revolution is ongoing. He cannot but drag around with him in the burlap sack, ought but the old morals vis-a-vis women. When those morals, the blood of the virgin (And here given it is Bunuel telling the story) are displayed in the window, and hint at the consummation of the relationship, not to mention a look back toward the virgin Mary, and the two go off down the mall and the whole place blows up, one is forced to conclude that the Surrealist and Communist is foretelling the outcome of the ongoing revolution, the destruction in the revolutionary blowup and inferno, of all the old crap.
Thus you can understand Samuel Goldwyn’s famous quote: “If you've got a message, send a telegram.” This is a film that is top-heavy in attempted messages — messages that probably possess a lot of meaning to a warped Communist mindset but to those looking to be entertained by a movie are just so much pretentious fluff.
Still, watching foreign films is at least half about seeing something a little different. And this film doesn’t disappoint in this regard. You just won’t find me foolishly falling all over myself praising this movie for being “important” or some such nonsense. It’s a romantic comedy with pretensions of being something more — completely in line with Communists and other wackos.