Questions for Buñuel's "That Obscure Object of Desire"

Please answer at least two of the following questions:

1. Why do you think the film is titled That Obscure Object of Desire? What is this “obscure object”? How does the film present it as such? Use specific imagery or scenes from the film in your answer.

2. Why do you think terrorism is an ever-pervasive “background” to the events of the film?

3. Why do you think Buñuel uses two actresses to play the part of Conchita? Refer to specific scenes in which one or the other appears to support your answer.

4. What do you make of the animal imagery in the text (the mouse, the fly)?

5. Why do you think Matthieu is the narrator of the film? Why is most of the film a flashback? (Think about who is sitting next to Matthieu in the train compartment.)

6. How does the world of Celestina infiltrate and influence this film? Refer to specific images or scenes from the film to support your answer.

7. Do you have any interpretation of the final moments of the film? (The sewing, the music, the explosion….)

8. Why do you think we see the burlap sac at various parts throughout the film, first carried by a passerby, and then Matthieu, and then again at the end of the film?