That obscure object of desire

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Movie
German title That obscure object of desire
Original title Cet obscur objet du désir
Country of production France , Spain
original language French , Spanish
Publishing year 1977
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 12 (formerly FSK 16)
Rod
Director Luis Buñuel
script Luis Buñuel,
Jean-Claude Carrière ,
Pierre Louÿs (novel)
production Serge Silberman
camera Edmond Richard
cut Hélène Plemiannikov
occupation
synchronization

German dubbing files

This obscure object of desire (original title: Cet obscur objet du désir ) is a French feature film from 1977 and also the last film by the director Luis Buñuel . The script goes back to the 1898 novel La Femme et le Pantin (German 1899: The woman and the jumping jack, later: This obscure object of desire ) by Pierre Louÿs .

action

The aging Parisian businessman Mathieu is leaving his Seville domicile . Before the train leaves for Madrid , he pours a bucket of water over the head of a girl named Conchita, who has hurried after him. He is observed by fellow travelers in his compartment, a woman with her daughter, a judge and a psychologist . He justifies this strange behavior to them by telling the story of his relationship with Conchita. Some time ago Conchita had been employed by him as a maid. Mathieu had tried to kiss her the first night, but she refused and disappeared the next morning. He later meets her in a bar, where she works as a cloakroom, and again in Switzerland. At this meeting, she leaves him her address. Conchita lives with her pious mother in a shack on the outskirts of Paris. They are mainly in the furnished apartment. Both refuse to work. Conchita is only enthusiastic about dancing and claims to be a virgin. Mathieu tries to win Conchita over with gifts, money and through her mother. He even managed to get her to move into an apartment he paid for. After constantly putting him off, both of them are finally in bed. But again Mathieu experiences an unpleasant surprise, because Conchita wears a kind of “ morality pants ”. It is tied up in such a way that intimacy cannot be considered.

Mathieu's love sickness is increasing. Conchita makes a fool of him in a rollercoaster of emotions. One day she hugs him, makes promises, and shortly afterwards rejects him. After discovering one evening that a young man is in her room, he throws both of them out into the street in anger. With the help of the relationships of a judge friend, he even lets the police deport Conchita and her mother from France as "undesirable" in order to get away from her. But because he can't stand it without her, he wants to look for her. He travels to Seville with his servant . He happened to find her there. Unfortunately, after a corresponding tip, Mathieu finds out that Conchita not only dances traditionally, but also naked for tourists, which outrages him immensely. He confesses that he still loves her and buys Conchita a sophisticated apartment in town. But she mocks him, introduces a young guy as her real lover and tells him how disgusted she is with him. The next morning she complains to him that his love for her is probably not great enough, because otherwise he would have had to kill himself that night. In anger, Mathieu beats Conchita, which she sees as proof of his love. But the angry Mathieu leaves them there.

Mathieu drives back to Paris from Seville alone. Before the train reached Madrid, Conchita suddenly reappears and pours a bucket of water over Mathieu. Then the two drive together to Paris. A bomb set by radical left-wing terrorists explodes in a shopping street there .

background

The novel La Femme et le Pantin by Pierre Louÿs was first published in 1928 by Jacques de Baroncelli , in 1935 by Josef von Sternberg with Marlene Dietrich in the leading role under the title The Devil Is a Woman (German: The devil is a woman ) and in 1959 by Julien Duvivier filmed under the title A Woman Like Satan .

This obscure object of desire was Buñuel's last film. The world premiere took place on August 17, 1977 in France; in the Federal Republic of Germany the film did not open until November 16, 1978 over a year later. The audience took the film well and the critics agreed that work would make a worthy conclusion of his complete works represent.

What is particularly noteworthy about this film adaptation is that Buñuel has the female lead Conchita embodied by two different actresses, which makes Matthieu's obscure mania for love all the more evident.

Reviews

“Buñuel's last, allegorical film - life: a journey - is a formally and mentally very complex structure. The political struggle (including an anarchist - terrorist 'Revolutionary Combat Group from the Child of Jesus ' plays into the plot) mixes with the struggle of the sexes integrated into the class struggle. A brilliant unmasking of bourgeois consciousness and behavior staged with gentle irony . "

- Lexicon of international film

“Luis Buñuel [s] last work is also one of his best. An allegorical and ironic film in which the master director includes a variety of his themes: political struggle, church, the struggle of the sexes, bourgeois worlds of thought. "

- prism

Awards

In 1978 Luis Buñuel was nominated in the category Best Director and together with Jean-Claude Carrière in the category Best Adapted Screenplay for the César . In the same year the work received a nomination for best foreign language film at the Golden Globe Awards .

At the Academy Awards in 1978 , the film was nominated for best foreign language film and Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière as authors of the best adapted screenplay . A year earlier, This Obscure Object of Desire had already won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's award for best foreign language film . From the National Board of Review , the work was as best foreign language film and the best director honor. Luis Buñuel was also named best director by the National Society of Film Critics .

literature

  • Pierre Louÿs : This obscure object of desire. Edited by Vincenzo Orlando. Translated by Gustave Gombert. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-12188-2 (French original title: La Femme et le Pantin ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of Release for This Obscure Object of Desire . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2009 (PDF; test number: 50 202 V / DVD / UMD).
  2. ↑ That obscure object of desire. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ See prisma.de .