Review of That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) by Iowa B — 08 Mar 2015

It's not uncommon for renowned artists to construct a piece near the end of their life that culminates on their entire body of work, and either resounds as masterful or pretentious hogwash. Luis Buñuel's final film, however, is far closer to the former, and may honesty be the perfect film that his whole career was striving towards.

The film touches on all of his familiar themes (disdain for religion, sexual frustration, paranoia towards society), but they're tied together in a very cohesive manner, making for subtext that's deftly layered.

Buñuel's frequent leading man, Fernando Rey, gives another great performance here, but of even more note is the dual-casting of the character Conchita. Having Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina alternate scenes playing the film's female lead could have come off as confounding, but instead it's playful and often entrancing.

Pardon the cliched phrase, but it's apropos for this film: Luis Buñuel went out with a bang on this one.