7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The story of the romance between Mathieu Faber, a wealthy businessman, and Conchita, his young maid. Consumed by his obsessive desire to possess her, his feelings progressively change from overflowing passion to a self-destructive hatred.
Starring: Carole Bouquet, Fernando Rey, Ángela Molina, Julien Bertheau, André WeberForeign | 100% |
Drama | 86% |
Romance | 16% |
Surreal | 16% |
Erotic | 9% |
Dark humor | 3% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English, French SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
There must be some kind of unspoken transition we all go through when suddenly at a predetermined age we all turn into Grandpa Simpson and start saying things like, “Well, back in my day. . .”, followed by some interminable anecdote about how things were when we were young. I fear that I’m about to make that transition, if I haven’t already, for as I watched That Obscure Object of Desire, I was suddenly transported back to my college days and my Film Theory class, when I was introduced to a number of classic films and filmmakers, including Luis Buñuel. Now this may come as something of a shock to those of you under 30 or so, but this was in a time before there was much of an internet, no home video to speak of, and no way to readily see international films other than in so called Art Houses. The reason this seems relevant to me as I reconsider That Obscure Object of Desire now after more years than I care to admit is that part of the allure of seeing films like this one back in my veritable youth was how exotic the experience seemed, how unlike anything I was used to seeing in American films of that day or, frankly, even the Golden Age of Hollywood. This now legendary artist's approach seemed particularly distinctive to someone who had grown up on cornfed Hollywood hokum for most of his life, especially with regard to some of Buñuel's earliest opuses like Un Chien Andalou. Buñuel had rather radically altered his original surrealist or Dadaist film language by the time he made That Obscure Object of Desire (his final film), intimating rather than depicting any overt surreal content in such still daring conceits as having two different actresses play the same role. The film on its surface seems to be the very model of an almost standardized narrative form, but that’s part of the genius of Buñuel. Dancing just beneath the surface of this supposed star-crossed love story mixed into a rather frighteningly prescient tale of terrorists wreaking havoc in modern day life is a veritable gamut of discomfiting content that works almost subliminally at times to subvert the ostensible story that's being told.
That Obscure Object of Desire is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal and Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. This appears to be the same transfer that was released in Britain last year. The elements herr are in surprisingly good condition, with nary a scratch or blemish dotting the proceedings. The image is often startlingly clear and well defined though admittedly there isn't the eye popping fine detail that informs many high definition presentations. The most niggling concern here may well be the slightly pallid palette, though it's actually quite accurate to the original look of the film. There are also slight density issues and registration differences which are noticeable but not extremely distracting. Overall, this is a very nice looking transfer that retains a nicely filmlike appearance without any egregious digital tweaking of any kind.
That Obscure Object of Desire features lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in both the original French as well as an English dub. The English dub is noticeably less aggressive and more boxy sounding than the French track, so even those who prefer not to read subtitles will probably want to stick with the original language. This is not an overly dynamic track, and it's obvious that quite a bit of the film was post-looped, leading to occasional synchronization issues, but dialogue remains very clearly and cleanly presented. The track is quite narrow, and dynamic range is also fairly limited, though there are occasional gunshots and a couple of explosions courtesy of the terrorists.
That Obscure Object of Desire features Buñuel's typically dry and very piquant sense of humor. The film's strangely nonplussed air takes a bit of getting used to, especially when so much passionate behavior, both romantic and terrorist, is on display, but that dialectic is part of this legendary writer-director's approach. This new Blu-ray features excellent video and good audio, with some superlative supplementary material. Highly recommended.
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