Luis Buñuel's fascinating and funny tale of a older man lusting after, and being strung along by, a younger woman is well worth a viewing. Fernando Rey is perfect in the film, striking the right balance between slimy and sympathetic. Carole Bouquet & Angela Molina are both great playing the same character, Conchita, the object of Fernando's desire. The actresses are so good at being cruel in the film, that when Conchita is slapped around by Fernando in one of the more climatic scenes, 2 of my friends next to me applauded. That's right, my friends applauded domestic abuse.
There seems to be some debate as to why Buñuel opted to use two actresses to play the lead, but whatever the reason, the choice helps illustrate the Conchita's two-faced mentality. There also seems to be a lot of love for the ending of movie among fans. I will say that while I think the ending doesn't hurt the film in any way, I kinda wish it ended about 4 minutes earlier with our protagonist leaving the train station.
All in all though I really liked this movie.
"That Obscure Object of Desire" played on 8/5/08 at the Paramount.
I'm off to Chicago, be back on Monday with more reviews.
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