That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

I'm not a big fan of the late-career Bunuels, pretty much everything after Belle de Jour. Not that they're bad films, I like them, only they pale in comparison to his earlier, more surrealist stuff. Maybe I'm warming up to them, but I'm liking each late Bunuel more than the last. His last film, That Obscure Object of Desire is right up there with the Exterminating Angel and the rest of Bunuel's early masterpieces.

Broken down, it's the story of an older man who becomes completely obsessed with a young woman, his maid. She seems very fickle about him, one moment she loves him, the next she never wants to see him again, then she's back in love with him, and so on. It's kind of amusing at first, and somewhat annoying as you can see it coming even though Mateo is blinded by his own desire for Conchita. However, the annoyance isn't due to poor filmmaking, as that's how Bunuel wanted the story to go. By the end, when she arranges for Mateo to watch her make love with another man, the effect is horrifying, as you've witnessed her completely ruin this man entirely. Or, maybe it was just me.

The capriciousness of women seems to be a favorite subject of Bunuel's, especially if you remember back to L'Age D'Or. Though, Bunuel isn't really a misogynist, as Belle de Jour could prove. In fact, it seems like anytime you try to pigeonhole Bunuel's work, or make any claims, the films seem to dance around them. Bunuel, for all his angst and attacks on just about everything, still remains playful in his work. You can get a sense of this in his films, as even the most serious of subjects are poked fun at. Bunuel's the kind of guy that you could imagine saying the most despicable things, then saying "Just kidding!" and you'd forgive him.

I realized that the desire is what drove Mateo on throughout the film, something that seemed within his grasp, yet always slightly out of reach. This is touched on by Conchita, and though he denies it, I think it's true. What's fascinating is, in the interview included with the Criterion disc, Bunuel seems to refute any attempts to analyze his work. There's a scene early on in the train, after Mateo has dumped a bucket of water on Conchita and the passengers try to figure out why he's done it. This seems to be the most autobiographical part of any Bunuel film, to me. People around him trying desperately to figure out the 'why', while he just sits back and grins.