That Obscure Object of Desire

1. The title for the movie kind of foreshadows what the movie is about. Obscure is defined as not being clear or plain, ambiguous, vague, uncertain and in the movie it was unclear at times whether or not Conchita really was in love with Matthieu or if she was going to give it up to him or not or whether or not she was a virgin. She seemed to lead him on and when it came time to delivering she made up an excuse or a way to get around him. It was also unsure to me as to what the meaning behind the bombings were especially at the end of the movie. I didn't know if it was a factual event that was going on in that time period that brought about the bombings or if there was a meaning behind it. The "obscure object" to me is Conchita or more like the desire that lies between Conchita and Matthieu. It is clear on Matthieu that he wants Conchita but it is unclear about if she is really true to her feelings toward Matthieu especially when she tells him off after he buys her the house and makes love or pretends to make love to her lover. Then she turns around and returns to Matthieu to tell him that it wasn't real it was a test to see if he loved her or not. Conchita is back and forth saying that she will have him tonight but then denies him and says that he should be happy just having her in the house. Then she leaves when she is kicked out the house but then when they run into each other again she clings to him again and says they will never be apart again. 

2. I asked myself that question of why there were so many bombings and why the setting of story was around this terrorism. I wondered if Matthieu and his group of friends or the political group that he was a part of was being attack by these terrorist and in the end he reaches his demise with the bombing that occurs at the end which doesn't really show or tell you that Conchita and Matthieu die but you assume or guess that they could have. Maybe the bombings have to do with the explosive nature of Conchita or the relationship of her and Matthieu. 

3. The two actress play two different parts of Conchita, the two personalities that she has. One appears more reserved and more refined while the other looks more carefree and risque, she doesn't appear as innocent as the other. The second one played by Angelina Molina looked more Spanish and more like a dancer than the other played by Carole Bouquet who to me seemed more french. When playing the part of the dancer, Angelina Molina played all the parts of the dancer as well as the part were she tricked Matthieu and showed him that she detested him and that she had another lover. The story started off with Carole Bouquet but ended with Angelina Molina and so it seems that he had tamed the more wild side of Conchita. 

4. I found that there was meaning to the animals, saw them as symbols of how Matthieu was trying to capture Conchita and then it was Matthieu that kept getting caught in his own traps and Conchita escaping them. 

5. Well, Matthieu finds himself to be the victim of a terrible wrong though it was him who was trying to control a woman with lies who just lied better and knew how to play the game just as well as him. She kept bringing him back in time after time with promises. He complied with her wishes though, kept feeding her money and things and in the end she kept denying him and telling him to wait. There is the psychologist next to him analyzing the encounters between Conchita and Matthieu, there is a judge placing his own judgement on the matter and then there is a woman who is a mother, that tries to empathize with Matthieu. The flashbacks are a way to show the woman that Matthieu loves is really two women but he doesn't realize that, he is blind to it. 

6. I saw Celestina in Conchita, the way that she was a person you couldn't really trust, someone that you didn't know who she really was, she was really two different people in the whole movie. I also saw Malibea in  Conchita, I think that the two halves of Conchita seemed to be Malibea and Celestina. The Malibea part in Conchita, or the part that reminded me of Malibea was when Conchita was all about giving it up to Calisto and saying that she wanted and desired him and then she would pull back and say that she wasn't that kind of girl and that he sould be happy to have her with him. Matthieu reminded me of Calisto because of the way that he fell in love with Conchita like Calisto fell in love with Malibea. He would do anything to have her, even pay off her mother. The mother was like that of the Malibea, just leaving her virtuous daughter alone with a man. Her mother was use to a luxurous life, not having to work and if that meant leaving her daughter with Matthieu then she would. She never chatized him for what his intetions were toward her daughter.