In the case of Obscure Object<\/em>, he made the bold decision \u2013 partially out of desperation, when he had to start production over to recast his leading lady \u2013 to cast two different actresses in the female lead. This device is not called for by the story (not directly, anyway), nor is it explained in dialogue; instead, it\u2019s a wild and risky method of conveying the frustration of the man who attempts to possess her. She\u2019s too slippery for that, and no sooner has he figured her out then she\u2019s literally another person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His name is Mathieu, played by the great Fernando Rey (best known to American audiences as the villain of The French Connection<\/em>), and we meet him towards the end of the story, as his train departure from Seville to Paris is nearly disrupted by the arrival of Conchita (acted alternately by Carole Bouquet and \u00c1ngela Molina). She clutches a suitcase and attempts, pleadingly, to jump on the slow-moving train; he unceremoniously dumps a bucket of water on her head. Back in his compartment, his fellow passengers are intrigued (\u201cI don\u2019t wish to appear indiscreet\u2026\u201d one begins, hesitantly), and since they all want an explanation, they get one. \u201cThat woman is the foulest woman that ever lived,\u201d he insists, and proceeds to tell the story of how he met, wooed, and was mostly rebuffed by her. (It goes unremarked, as Bu\u00f1uel periodically circles back to these framing scenes, that he\u2019s telling what amounts to a blue-balls story in front of a child.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n An inarguable power dynamic is in place from their first interaction, as he is a guest in the home where she works as a maid, and treats her with the kind of casual condescension that the upper class tends to reserve for \u201cthe help.\u201d He attempts a clumsy pass in his room later that night — \u201cIt\u2019s obvious you\u2019re not really a maid,\u201d he says, somewhat over-familiarly \u2013 and when she hurries out, he fumes, \u201cI have something to say to you!\u201d There is an assumed importance, you see, and she has not acknowledged it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But he meets her again, and decides he must have her. Bu\u00f1uel clearly enjoys playing the inherent comedy of this refined, wealthy gentleman\u2019s absolute horniness for this stunning young woman who refuses to let him closer than arm\u2019s length; she seems to enjoy turning him on, then protesting, \u201cI\u2019m not that kind of girl. If that\u2019s what you want from me, you\u2019d better go.\u201d He keeps visiting, bringing gifts; she resists his advances. \u201cI just amuse you,\u201d she insists. \u201cA passing fancy. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And thus That Obscure Object of Desire<\/em> becomes something like a wrestling match \u2013 or a war movie (full of appropriate language like \u201cIf we get married, I\u2019d be surrendering my last weapon\u201d). The key question Bu\u00f1uel and co-screenwriter Jean-Claude Carri\u00e8re explore is, simply, who will acquire (and retain) agency and sexual control in the relationship, as each wants it conducted on their own terms. They break up and reunite; he never apologizes for his mistakes, or even admits them, and her motives seem to shift as often as the actor playing her. And that\u2019s the genius of the casting stunt; one moment, Conchita will expose enormous vulnerability (\u201cWill you still love me then? Tell me you will, even if it\u2019s untrue\u201d), and sometimes she will reveal unthinkable cruelty. Most consistently, however, she exerts her independence. \u201cYou aren\u2019t my lover, or my father!\u201d she tells him. \u201cI belong to no one, and I\u2019m my most precious possession!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what exactly is fueling her? Is this a sexual power game? A financial hustle? Neither? Both? \u201cYou want the one thing I refuse to give you,\u201d she notes, perceptively. \u201cJust wait a little longer.\u201d But a little longer turns into a long time, and the longer he waits, the more the power shifts. \u201cIf I gave you want you want,\u201d she predicts, \u201cyou wouldn\u2019t love me.\u201d Little he says or does seems to refute that argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with the best of Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s pictures, this one is darkly funny: a throwaway bit with a baby pig, the butler\u2019s shrugging insistence that \u201cmy thoughts are worthless,\u201d the exact moment she chooses to say \u201cBut now I know you love me.\u201d But none of that makes what he\u2019s doing any less serious \u2013 these scenes are emotionally and, occasionally, physically brutal. That brutality further manifests itself in a running narrative undercurrent of terrorism and unrest; bombings and kidnappings are happening throughout France as the psychosexual story unfolds, a rising tide against the rich and complacent, like Mathieu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That Obscure Object of Desire<\/em> doesn\u2019t explicitly condemn him, and it doesn\u2019t have to, when it can so searingly indict Mathieu\u2019s presumptions and privileges. And it\u2019s complicated, because there are moments when Conchita is absolutely vile to him (\u201cWhen you touch me, I feel like vomiting! I spit your kisses out of my mouth!\u201d), or when it seems she\u2019s running a con \u2013 exploiting him even. But when weighed against the way he treats seemingly everyone else in his life, is this just a taste of his own medicine? And by the end of the picture, when she not only gets her comeuppance but he accepts it, are we witnessing a prototype for something like Secretary<\/em>? Is this a relationship that, as emotionally toxic as it might seem on its surface, simply works for them? Stranger things have happened, in both fact and fiction, and the fact that Bu\u00f1uel went out with a film that continues to challenge, confound, and even arouse, all these years later, is high praise indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/obscure2-1024x468.jpg\")
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