That Obscure Object of Desire (The Criterion Collection)
 
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That Obscure Object of Desire (The Criterion Collection) (1977)

Fernando Rey (Actor), Carole Bouquet (Actor) | Rated: R | Format: DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews) |

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Product Details

  • Actors: Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet, Ángela Molina, Julien Bertheau, André Weber
  • Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: R (Restricted)
  • Studio: Criterion
  • DVD Release Date: November 20, 2001
  • Run Time: 102 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005QAPJ
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,019 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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  • Learn more about "That Obscure Object of Desire (The Criterion Collection)" on IMDb

Special Features

  • New high-definition transfer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • Video interview with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere
  • Excerpts from Jacques de Baroncelli's 1929 silent La Femme et le Pantin, an alternative adaptation of the novel on which Luis Buñuel based his film
  • Reprinted interview with director Luis Buñuel

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Item Name: That Obscure Object of Desire - Criterion Collection; Studio: Criterion

Product Description

A middle-aged man is forever humiliated by his girl.
Genre: Foreign Film - French
Rating: UN
Release Date: 20-NOV-2001
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
Luis Bunuel's last film . . . and he checked out with a masterpiece. It's the fifth adaptation of a torrid novel written in 1898 called *La Femme et le Pantin* (The Woman and the Puppet). The only famous version, besides this one, is 1935's *The Devil is a Woman* starring -- who else? -- Marlene Dietrich. In *That Obscure Object of Desire*, Fernando Rey is bedevilled by TWO women: in what can only be described as a stroke of genius, Bunuel cast 2 ladies to play the same part of Conchita, a young Spanish flamenco dancer who begins the movie as Rey's housemaid. The considerably different physiognomy of Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina would at first suggest a "light" or "dark" side of Conchita (or a "sophisticated" or "earthy" side -- take your pick). However, each actress is assigned to her respective scenes in a totally arbitrary manner: both run hot and cold with Rey. The CHARACTER is the same, no matter which actress plays her . . . which says something about the "objectification" in the title, perhaps. (But only Spanish Molina is allowed to dance the flamenco.) In other words, this interchangeability is more than just another of this director's famous Surrealist touches. Bunuel arrives at deeper truths about how men view women, how men need women, and how any woman will do -- despite, in this case, Mathieu's apparent obsession with one woman. The driving plot-line, which is whether or not Conchita will surrender her virginity to Mathieu, soon turns into circular entropy with no resolution. Which, after all, is the point: desire dies when it's resolved. Bunuel suggests that the sexual drive and its attendant perversities and neuroses never die. (The fact that Mathieu is 60 years old, give or take, is not an accident.) Indeed, desire dies only with death itself, as the film's final shot indicates.
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59 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Ignore Leonard Maltin; there is not a single act of physical violence intended to arouse, although there's PLENTY of emotional abuse and a pretty harsh expression of rage. This is a movie about how sexual politics, specifically the chase of a woman, can consume a man's life, and how said sexual politics are, in the end, pointless in the context of the wider world. And not only are they pointless, they can be abruptly ended BY the wider world. In light of recent events, that's an excellent lesson to have around.

Of course, this being a movie from the director who gave us "Un Chien Andalou", there are some...offbeat touches. The role of Conchita is played by two actresses, a Frenchwoman and a Spaniard (slightly distracting at first, but once you know their faces, it fades.) A dwarf shows up rather early on. But overall, it's not particularly strange...just bitter. Despite it being his final film, the director's hatred of the idle rich comes through loud and clear.

I highly recommend this, a great, restrained piece from a master.

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56 of 68 people found the following review helpful
Bunuel triumphant October 16, 2001
Format:DVD
Nobody makes films like Luis Bunuel. In this, his last film, he captures the related themes of obsessive desire, frustration, and immaturity perfectly, crafting a wicked black comedy. When a wealthy middle-aged man, played to perfection by Fernando Rey, is entranced by a young girl he has recently hired as one of the maids in his grand mansion, he pursues her obsessively.

The girl is played by two different actresses; here Bunuel is slyly saying to the audience, This man is too (two) distracted, too (two) obsessed. The girl alternately leads him on and crushes his hopes, time after time, yet still the man returns to be alternately entranced and crushed. His actions are ultimately revealed to be far too immature--if nothing else, based on the behavior of the girl--for his age, but he can't help himself.

Simultaneously, a guerilla group plants bombs and blows things up all over the city of Paris where the film is set. The immature need for immediate results, intensified by repeated frustration--typified by both the guerillas and the desperate man--is nowhere revealed in film as dramatically as in That Obscure Object of Desire. The film ends with the convergence of these two entities (the guerillas and the man) in a perfect climax.

The "message"? Not only that you can't always get what you want; more to the point, here is what people do all over the world: want things they don't understand, fail to understand what they want.

Highly recommended. Bunuel is like no other director, ever, and this film is without question one of his best.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
That Obscure Object of Desire
For some inexplicable reason, Amazon has removed the rate-movie feature from the main product page. One must now write a review in order to rate a movie and generate... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Charles D. Fulton
OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE
ARRIVED IN GOOD TIME AND IN GOOD CONDITION.That Obscure Object of Desire - Criterion Collection
Published 20 months ago by Steve Abbruscato
I Was Disappointed.
I'm not saying that this movie isn't light-years better than most of the crap that's being produced by mainstream filmmakers. Read more
Published on January 19, 2010 by Yasha Banana
Do NOT read anything about this movie or it will be ruined!
Unlike most, I was lucky enough to see this film for the first time without knowing anything about it. It ran on PBS on a saturday night. I was completely blown away. Read more
Published on February 7, 2009 by Nephilim
The Devil Is a Woman
The last film of a great master, his "swan song" was based on the novel "La femme et le pantin" written by Pierre Louÿs. Read more
Published on February 23, 2008 by Galina
The Last Temptation of Luis Bunuel...
''That Obscure Object of Desire'' is one of the highest achievements in sound cinema, one of the greatest films ever made...you get the idea!!! Read more
Published on December 4, 2007 by S. Ramani
Exploration on human sexual relationships
An interesting exploration on human sexual relationship. Without minimizing Bunuel's importance in world cinema, this movie is still stuck in its own time and place. Read more
Published on October 30, 2007 by Reader
No fool like an old fool
Carole Bouquet is the thinner Conchita who is somewhat severe. Angela Molina is the one who dances and seems more natural.

Jean-Claude Carriere wrote the script. Read more
Published on April 10, 2007 by Dennis Littrell
Smack me, won't you?
This is a very well made film. The director is excellent. The only complaint I have is with the ending. Read more
Published on October 8, 2006 by LF
Disgusting and pointless.
"Listen, Bunuel. What are we going to do? The witch has quit. Says: too much nudity. Who does she think she is - Mother Theresa?"

"I am a little busy, JP (Quiet, babe! Read more
Published on March 18, 2006 by Mark Twain
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