The Obscure Object of Desire

The Obscure Object of Desire is sort of a strange name for a movie. The object of desire is obviously Conchita, an 18 year old Spanish native living in France with her mother. She works but her mother doesn’t like her to. Her father is dead and her mother is very religious although she does not seem to be. Matteiu, a considerably older man, meets Conchita by being her employer for one day when she works as a servant in his house and falls in love with her rapidly. What makes the object of desire, Conchita, so obscure is the way that Matteiu perceives her. In a relation to the Tale of Narcissus, Matteiu falls in love with the illusion of a relationship with Conchita. For this reason, two actresses are used to portray Conchita. The French actress playing Conchita represents who she really is: independent, self accomplished and motivated while the Spanish actress plays the Conchita Matteiu believes is the woman he has fallen in love with. 

It doesn’t take long for Conchita to reciprocate Matteiu’s feelings. But instead of falling in love with Matteiu’s looks, like Echo did in the Tale of Narcissus, Conchita is accused of falling in love with Matteiu’s money, which becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the movie. Money becomes a motivator. It keeps Conchita’s mother happy and supportive of the relationship despite the massive age gap. It becomes a means to achieve Conchita’s goal of owning a house, and it provides a way for Matteiu to ensure Conchita’s financial dependence on him. On numerous occasions, he accuses her of only staying for the money although she insists the money means nothing to her. I believe they have a similar argument a total of three times. From these fights, Conchita accuses Matteiu of being cold and heartless which can parallel how rich old men are sometimes portrayed. This is later backed up by the palm reader in Seville who reveals that he loves a girl but he doesn’t treat her right and that he is rich but mean.

We also see a great deal of compromising and flip flopping in this film. Several times Conchita leads Matteiu on and then flip flops and finds an excuse not to get intimate with him. Also, three times Matteiu forces Conchita to leave although she sees it as her leaving willingly. She tells him she’ll never come back and he promises he’ll never come find her and yet he always goes to find her and she always comes back. As for compromising, there is constant compromising over sex and waiting to have it. Then there is a compromise over Conchita’s dancing in Seville which is settled with a deal that Conchita had to quit her dancing job and in exchange, Matteiu bought her a house of her own. Finally, the couple compromises over getting back together after Mattieu physically assaults Conchita. For some reason, Conchita decides that this action means he cares about her and as a compromise, offers him access to the house he bought her by producing a key, which he rejects. Alternatively, the key may have been a compromise to make him stop hitting her instead.

There is also the issue of sex. We hear that Conchita is a virgin in the beginning of the movie. At first, she has no understanding why sex would ever have any importance in a relationship. Matteiu says he wants to have sex because he loves her and it will let him be closer to her. She resists because she thinks that once she has sex with him, he won’t love her anymore.

The terrorism aspect seems out of place in the movie until you start paralleling it with major events. The first witnessed attack occurred outside of Matteiu’s house which was the first time Conchita came to stay with him. It reflected the hostility they had just displayed in bed toward one another. Later, after Matteiu has bought Conchita a house in Seville, he takes a taxi home that gets carjacked by terrorists. This incident is much more personal and reflects the emotional assault he just endured from Conchita on the first night she has occupied the new house. The final attack occurs in a shopping center when Matteiu and Conchita discover a woman applying lace to a piece of fabric that was disposed of by Mattieu’s servant after a fight in his apartment with Conchita because there was blood on it. Conchita has a disgusted demeanor about her when a bomb goes off and the viewer assumes the couple has died.

Bernart De Ventadorn

Just a couple quick thoughts on two poems.

First, poem number 24 had this solemn undertone. What I got out of it was basically that love makes you an easy victim because you are so overwhelmed and blinded. There is a dangerous aspect introduced in the quote “I am destroyed by my desiring,” literally meaning that not achieving your desires could lead to a person’s lack of existence. By the same token, a few poems back in number 22, the poet suggests that the moment you stop loving, you stop really living. Another way of looking at this statement could be that you never stop loving, whether you realize that love or not, until the moment you die. Back to poem 24, it reads “when it pleases her, she gives me comfort and honors me and when it pleases her, I make do with less” which signals a heavy female dominance in this real or imaginary relationship in which he is catering to her every need, as suggested in poem 22 when he says that being in love is somewhat like being a servant because of this desire to be and provide everything she needs.

Narcissus, Mirror Stage and Song of Songs

Ovid’s Myth of Narcissus

The power of rejection is clearly demonstrated in this piece. We first see it with Echo when her friend mentions that she talks too much which could be seen as a social rejection. Echo’s response is quite drastic, only repeating the last few words of everyone’s sentences. It is noticeable, however, that the number of words Echo echos is not always the same. She seems to echo in such a way that changes the meaning of the sentence or only expresses what we can assume she feels. For this reason, Narcissus rejects Echo because he cannot understand her through her abbreviated and borrowed language. Echo's response is again very drastic, voluntary solitary confinement which she eventually dies from, leaving only her echo in her place. Narcissus is also rejected but by his own reflection. After falling in love with the image of himself, he learns that this desired person is incapable of loving him back and upon this discovery, he allowed himself to wither away and die. In both cases, we see that failed love and rejection can lead to death through personal, willing, gradual decay and neglect. What stuck with me was the quote “he was worn and wasted away with love, and slowly consumed by its hidden fire.” I think this is accurate in describing the negative symptoms of love or maybe love sickness. Unfulfilled love can take a lot out of a person which is probably why so many therapists are able to stay in business.

Locan’s “Mirror Stage”

Basically, what I took out of it is that “the self” has many meanings and it’s most pure form can be demonstrated in a child when he or she first discovers their own reflection in the mirror. This is our first ever real look at ourselves and probably a very confusing one. Maybe as we grow up we’re just as confused about what “self” is but the confusion doesn’t come from “I wonder what this limb does,” it’s more “who am I?” Our first identification as self comes from what we look like or our reflection. Our values, preferences and lifestyles should further define us as we grow old enough to realize that self is more than the shells of our bodies.

Song of Songs

A quote in the third poem stood out to me, “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires,” which I took to mean that you can’t rush love and it’ll occur on its own, which is such a change from the last two poems which were quite cheerful. I found the fifth to be irritating. He goes on to describe her beauty in detail as well as the way she smells and makes reference to her love but doesn’t say much about the fact that they are in love. He seems too caught up in her flawlessness which makes me think he is writing about lust, not love. In Song of Songs 6, “she” is asked by her friends what makes her lover so much better than all other men. Instead of describing how caring or honorable or trustworthy he is, she described his looks in detail, proving the couple’s vanity once again. In the seventh, a quote stood out to me just because I thought it was an accurate description. “For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.” I guess what made an impression was “rivers cannot sweep it away,” or in other words, love conquers all, but this is a less aggressive way of putting it. Love can drive us to heartbreak or personal neglect and deteriorating self confidence, anyone and everyone can be effected by it because it’s a certain thing in life, just like dying, and it is as strong as a fire because it can control our actions and other emotions.