Emotions as Art; Arising as a complex entity rooted in the
             Psychological Panorama of Human Expirence.
             THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (1977)
             11 March 2004
             That Obscure Object of Desire, (1977) directed by Luis Buñuel, his last film... completed when he was 77, showed his audience a few new tricks and refreshed our memory of his emphasis on fetishes. It visually, and literarily created a platform for a discussion similar to that of Truffaut's Les Quatre Cent Coups(1966). Although Buñuel will always be regarded as the father of surrealist film, That Obscure Object of Desire, examines an overtly familiar human topic: desire. Buñuel's expressive misce-en-scene delivers an erotic portrayal of a man trapped by his emotional attachment to a woman he cannot attain. Even while he's in a committed relationship with her he cannot attain her. That Obscure Object of Desire includes a Lacanian premise with Freudian insight, a Hitchcockian foundation with Buñuel's classic breast-groping scenes. The film dresses in its fear of women, freely.
             The film was adapted from a French novel entitled " The Devil is a Woman, by Pierre Louys. Josef von Sternberg had already done the film once in 1935. Buñuel worked with his long time ally Jean Claude Carriere, as a co-writer. The two were known to have collaborated six times in previous films. The two artists were close and Carrier co-wrote Buñuel's autobiography. The film was created with much care: it not only spoofed scenes in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, but it highlighted surrealists themes while ridiculing an older man's insecurities with sexuality. The most brilliant element of the film, double acting, was said to be a mistake, but with Buñuel it is difficult to believe. Two actors played the role...