Buñuel's "That Obscure Object of Desire"

3. As first, I was very confused as to why Bunuel had two actresses playing Conchita. I tried to look deeper into the attitudes and behaviors of each of the Conchitas and see if each of them was one specific trait that Matthieu was interested in, but in each scene, the Conchitas were unpredictable. One moment, they longed for his love and the next moment they were pushing him away. I began to think about the possibility of Conchita having multiple personality disorder, but that was a little far fetched. The two actresses playing Conchita represented the two things that Matthieu desired within them. Although Matthieu wanted to have sex with Conchita, he also wanted her to remain pure and wholesome, the way that she represented herself. He wanted those two things at the same time that were virtually unobtainable. This is the same because like the two Conchitas, you cannot have the two actresses on screen at the same time. The more conservative version of Conchita was the first one that we see in the movie. She is wise and not as free willing as the other Conchita. For instance, when Matthieu tries to have sex with her and she keeps her underwear fastened on, it seems as if she does this because she legitimately is trying to keep herself from having sex with him. On the other hand, the other Conchita is very passionate and tricky to figure out. She seems to be in a lot more scene where she is trying to make a scene. For instance, when she has sex with another man infront of Matthieu, she is very instinctual.

5. I think that Matthieu is the narrator in the film because he is the one that witnesses her bipolar behavior and no one else. He has to inform the audience what he saw through his eyes so that they can interpret it and give him advice. Matthieu has seen all of the sides of Conchita, but every time he experiences one of her extreme behaviors, he does not know how to react. I think that he tells it in the past tense and in flashbacks to add the other's reactions on the train. At first when we first see him pouring the bucket of water on Conchita, we see him as more of an evil character. He has to gain back the respect by telling the back story as to why he did this. I thought that it was very interesting that all of the people in the train car were all connected in some way and I did not know exactly what to think of the psychologist who was a midget. I wasn't quite sure what to think about that...