That Obscure Object of Desire

Luis Buñuel’s final film brings full circle the director’s lifelong preoccupation with the darker side of desire. After dumping a bucket of water on a beautiful young woman from the window of a train car, wealthy Frenchman Mathieu (Fernando Rey), regales his fellow passengers with the story of the dysfunctional relationship between himself and the young woman in question, a fiery 19-year-old flamenco dancer named Conchita (played alternately by Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina). What follows is a tale of cruelty, depravity and lies – the very building blocks of love.

‘Buñuel creates a vision of a world as logical as a theorem, as mysterious as a dream, and as funny as a vaudeville gag.’ - The New York Times