This is a typical Buñuel film , as there is a lot of symbolism and surrealism , including mockery or wholesale review upon sexual behaviors and jealousy of higher classes represented by the great Fernando Rey . Recounted in flashback , it deals with the romantic perils of Mathieu (Fernando Rey was actually dubbed by Michel Piccoli) , a wealthy Spanish old man who obtains a gorgeous 19-year-old girlfriend called Conchita (changing physical identities : Angela Molina and Carole Bouquet , but Maria Schneider walked off the picture in protest at the amount of nude scenes) , daughter of a poor woman (Maria Asquerino) . But Conchita refuses to sleep with him . Buñuel's masterpiece filled with drama , surrealism , romance , terrorism , and colorful as well as absurd images . Surrealism and sour portrait upon higher classes , an extreme sexual obsession of an elderly man on a very young woman and their subsequent sexual rites by the Spanish maestro of surrealism , the great Luis Buñuel . "That Obscure Object of Desire" also titled ¨Cet Obscur object Du Désir¨ or ¨Ese Oscuro Objeto Del Deseo¨ is available with subtitles or dubbed and contains a lot of surrealist images , such as the sack scenes , when a gypsy carries a hog , baby-alike , and when it appears a woman mending a bloody nightgown , in fact , this was the last scene Luis Bunuel shot as a filmmaker . Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both subversive behavior and religion , and that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career . Interesting and thought-provoking screenplay from the same Luis Buñuel and Jean Claude Carriere , Buñuel's usual screenwriter , and based on the novel "La Femme Et Le Pantin" , which has been used as the premise for several other movies , including : ¨The Woman and the Puppet¨ (1920) by Reginald Baker with Geraldine Farrar , "La Femme Et le Pantin" (1929) by Jacques Baroncelli with Conchita Montenegro , ¨The Devil Is a Woman¨ (1935) by Josef Von Stenberg with Marlene Dietrich , Lionel Atwill , Cesar Romero , and ¨La Femme et Le Pantin¨ (1959) by Julien Duvivier with Brigitte Bardot and Antonio Vilar . Very good performance by Fernando Rey as a middle-aged French sophisticate person who falls for his former chambermaid . Acceptable acting from two young beautiful actresses : Angela Mólina and Carole Bouquet , the decision to use two players to play Conchita saved the movie from dropping out . Maria Schneider was dismissed from the film , the true reason was her heavy drug use , which caused her to give a "lackluster" interpretation and caused tremendous friction between her and Buñuel . Pretty good support cast gives fine acting ; it is mostly formed by nice French actors , such as Julien Bertheau , Milena Vukotic , André Weber and Spanish ones , such as Maria Asquerino and David Rocha . In addition , Luis Buñuel cameo : as in 'Belle De Jour' and 'Phantom of Liberty' Buñuel does another walk-on in streets , immediately after Fernando Rey's first scene , as Luis and his chauffeur are blown to bits on their way to the bank , victims of an unexplained terrorist attack .Thid wry and enjoyable motion picture was well photographed by Edmond Richard and being compellingly directed by Luis Buñuel who was voted the 14th Greatest Director of all time . This Buñuel's strange film belongs to his French second period ; in fact , it's plenty of known French actors . As Buñuel subsequently emigrated from Mexico to France where filmed other excellent movies . After moving to Paris , at the beginning Buñuel did a variety of film-related odd jobs , including working as an assistant to director Jean Epstein . With financial help from his mother and creative assistance from Dalí, he made his first film , this 17-minute "Un Chien Andalou" (1929), and immediately catapulted himself into film history thanks to its disturbing images and surrealist plot . The following year , sponsored by wealthy art patrons, he made his first picture , the scabrous witty and violent "Age of Gold" (1930), which mercilessly attacked the church and the middle classes, themes that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career . That career, though, seemed almost over by the mid-1930s, as he found work increasingly hard to come by and after the Spanish Civil War , where he made ¨Las Hurdes¨ , as Luis emigrated to the US where he worked for the Museum of Modern Art and as a film dubber for Warner Bros . He subsequently went on his Mexican period he teamed up with producer Óscar Dancigers and after a couple of unmemorable efforts shot back to international attention with the lacerating study of Mexican street urchins in ¨Los Olvidados¨ (1950), winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. But despite this new-found acclaim, Buñuel spent much of the next decade working on a variety of ultra-low-budget films, few of which made much impact outside Spanish-speaking countries , though many of them are well worth seeking out . As he went on filming "The Great Madcap" , ¨El¨(1952) , ¨The brute¨ (1952) , "Wuthering Heights", "The Criminal Life of Archibaldo De la Cruz" (1955) , ¨Death in the garden¨(1956) , ¨Nazarin¨(1958) , ¨Robinson Crusoe¨ , ¨Fever mounts El Paso¨(59) , ¨The exterminator Angel¨(62) , ¨Simon of desert¨(1966) and many others . And finally his French-Spanish period in collaboration with producer Serge Silberman and writer Jean-Claude Carrière with notorious as well as polemic films , such as ¨Viridiana¨ , ¨Diary of a chambermaid¨ (64) , ¨the milky way¨(1968) , ¨Tristana¨ (70) , ¨Belle De Jour¨, ¨The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1977) , and this his last picture , "That Obscure Object of Desire" .

Luis Bunuel is one of my favourite directors, and this is probably my favourite movie from his vast catalogue. (But I love most of his later films.) He has a unique, surrealistic view, but his talent for narrative and his great sense of humour always ensure that his movies remain accessible.I've always admired movies that manage to say something profound about the amazingly complex nature of women, about how they see themselves, and how men see them. The nature of love, passion, obsession - these are all intriguing questions, and Bunuel digs deep, to their very core.The fundamental duality of human nature is conveyed here through the use of two actresses in the same role - a very original device (though, funnily, it was born out of necessity), and the execution is flawless, merging the two faces of a woman into one. A true cinematic experience, highly recommended for every film buff.

Few other directors would dare to equate the male libido with international terrorism, but the final feature by master surrealist Luis Buñuel is a dark comic web of sexual obsession (too dark to be truly funny) set against a background of random explosions and political assassinations. The always dapper Fernando Rey stars as a wealthy gentleman who develops an all-consuming infatuation for his young Spanish maid, who by turns tempts him, teases him, refuses him, and finally humiliates him. All Rey wants is to carry his passion to its logical conclusion, but her (deliberately?) unpredictable shifts in mood, from coy temptation to spiteful rejection, leave him in a state of dangerous frustration. Buñuel applies his usual sly wit to the otherwise cynical and pessimistic scenario (one man affectionately refers to women as "sacks of excrement"), going so far as to cast two completely different actresses in the title role and interchanging them at random. The film is at once perverse and disturbing, providing a suitably mordant swan song to a long and distinguished career in movie iconoclasm.

The film is told in flashback after Mathieu (Fernando Rey) douses a woman with a pail of water while catching the train.He meets Conchita, played by Carole Bouquet & Angela Molina when she serves him dinner, and is instantly smitten.Yes, he falls in love with on Conchita, and later another emerges. It is enough to drive one to do a mad thing like dumping a bucket of water.Buñuel, in his last film, gives us a story not only about desire, but about unattainable desire. Conchita constantly tempts Mathieu, even telling him she is a virgin, without giving an inch.It is a strange cat and mouse game and it ends without a clear resolution. One presumes it will continue indefinitely.