It’s not a movie. Not a motion picture. It’s a work of art in motion. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) by Luis Buñuel has the rare trait of under-dialogue. This can be explained as a story and visual back and forth in the form of back-to-back contradiction that is not apparent on the surface while watching the film; it is witnessed by the unconscious or carefully attentive mind of the viewer. This duality is alluded to by the use of black and white in the film. For example, Conchita wears a black and white top and carries a black and white bag: the black and white is indicative of polar opposites. That Obscure Object also did something no other film did before: have two actresses play the same role without at all acknowledging this as though it doesn't happen. But that’s not the only first.
Buñuel’s film isn’t just a film. It is a work of fine art. And to accent his interest in classifying it as art, Buñuel placed his friend Salvador Dali’s paintings (they’re barely visible in the frame, but so obviously his style) into the set of the bedroom during Mathieu and Conchita’s honeymoon. Their existence in the mise-en-scene is a subtle reference to the use of Surrealist automatism as storytelling as opposed to the film being strictly conscious filmmaking.
Buñuel, whose camera was his paintbrush, just let his unconscious run wild. He shot in the moment without numbered shots or any planning. That way it was stream of consciousness and truly fine art.
Visual transitions that are more interesting than match-on-action shots get us from one scene to another. Usually a transition appears as a quick fade or even just a cut separating two scenes; this is what contemporary bourgeois directors like Spielberg and Ridley Scott use. Buñuel, however, employs a more creative approach. He may have a character speaking in front of a not readily apparent portion of the background, say in front of a landscape painting featuring an aqueduct. Then all of a sudden we’re looking at a shot of a real aqueduct. It’s not a painting; it’s the camera planted in front of the aqueduct so our new scene is of the aqueduct.
Terrorism is a major theme in the film. It comes in and out throughout the entire length of the film, as though it is a thought or a panicked worry cropping up here and there in someone’s mind. It behaves like a thought: transient, but always there haunting you every now and then like a worry. And we all know how negative worrying can be for your health. Which is why, yep, our characters die in the end because of terrorists. But the funny thing is, we the viewers are thrilled because the film is over! The back and forth tease finally ends and we are relieved.
Much like deja vu, these random terrorist worries and neuroses together function as a type of foreshadowing. First we hear the conversation in the scene in which Mathieu first meets Conchita as the maid. Then we see through a POV shot that Mathieu is reading a newspaper with the headline, “Jet Blown Up By Terrorists. 290 Dead.” Wait, why 290? As noted above, Mathieu and Conchita get killed by terrorists in the end, so it’s not 290 people, but rather our two people. Just add 2 plus 9 and you get 11, which is visually 1 and 1… Mathieu and Conchita.
Making of the film: Jean-Claude Carriére and Buñuel collaborated so closely to make this work of art (true partners work together 50/50) that they lived together in an isolated location while staying in small monk-like cells adjacent to each other. The two artists ate all of their meals together and had designated brainstorm times as well as brief alone time. The process from there is unbelievable. While they lived, they lived the screenplay. In those close quarters they were the actors, writing from their own perspectives and viewpoints as the actors. But aren’t the actors supposed to act out what the writer and director already have? Yes. But the director is god. As such, Buñuel made this sentiment clear by acting before the actors get to acting. He is the original. The 360-degree, all-encompassing god and auteur of the film. They just let the unconscious run wild. And it turned out that two men living closely together all alone for a long period of time is surprisingly similar to a married couple. Whoa.
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