The 1977 movie, The Obscure Object of Desire, set in France and Spain, illustrates a current and prevalent problem in the modern world. Conchita, a beautiful young woman of eighteen, is accosted and pursued by Mathieu, a wealthy middle aged man throughout the movie. This movie outlines an abuse slaves, domesticated pets, women, men, and children have been subjected to from the beginning of time; the abuse of being objectified. In modern society, the objectification of women can be seen on every billboard and magazine cover around the world and still remains a topic of contention among many groups. Conchita, in her own way, wages what seems to be a personal war against Mathieu’s objectification.
Mathieu is an extremely wealthy man who is spoiled and, it seems, very used to getting his way. He does not understand Conchita’s desire to be loved as a person but only sees her as a sexual object. She continually brings up and tries to discuss the sexual objectification she feels he places on her. He does a poor job of explaining his actions and resumes his prior actions. From the beginning Mathieu exerts a conceited smugness when he first tries to “seduce” or force himself on his new maid, Conchita. She disengages him and never returns to work. From the beginning we see Mathieu for what he really is a controlling, spoiled man. However, he searches her out and begins pursuing her as “gentleman”, with gifts and innocent visits to her home. In these scenes we see him exemplify subtle domineering techniques such as, gripping Conchita by the arm and leading her around. In this sequence Conchita confides in Mathieu she is a virgin and has romantic feelings for him. However, she wishes he would show her respect by treating her as a woman that can not be bought. Oblivious to the meaning of her request he bribes her mother. In this blatant act one wonders if he truly does not understand Conchita’s wants or if he thinks that money will buy her affections in the end.
Later on for reasons unknown Conchita moves into his country home. In this scene she denies his ghastly advance by wearing “chastity” underwear. She continues to attack his idea of bought affection with a sort of civil disobedience. She terrorizes his ideas of what women want, how they should behave, and relationships in general. The final straw for both Conchita and Mathieu is when she demands a house to be bought for her. Mathieu assumes that money has finally conquered and she has come to her senses. However, Conchita has other plans which consist of her “losing her virginity” in front of Mathieu who is locked out of the house he purchased. She uses this technique to once and for all show him what she has been telling him the entire movie: she can not be bought. One could begin to feel that Mathieu is being unfairly treated and even dragged through emotional mud. However, if one remembers back, his courting of Conchita has consisted of selfishness, aggression, bribery, control, stalking, and attempted sexual assault on several occasions.
When Conchita confronts Mathieu about her faked deflowering, Mathieu assails her and finally rapes her with seemly no remorse for the brutal attack. He then leaves town, as Conchita chases down the train, Mathieu humiliates her further by dumping a bucket of water on her. In the last scene, we see them together as a couple arguing and getting blown up by a terrorist bomb.
As Conchitas assaults Mathieu’s twisted sense of courting a woman one can only wonder why. Though Conchita is clearly irritated by Mathieu’s complete disrespect and pursuit of control, she reiterates her feelings, trying to teach him the error of his ways. Any person that has tried to convey to someone else that their actions are controlling and not how you want to be treated, and then the person still acts the same way, can understand Conchita’s actions. The less Matthieu understands the more outrageous her conduct becomes. In the end no one wins or changes the other and perhaps that Bunuel’s the lesson.
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