22

FRIDAY

I’m sure we’ve all dated someone so mood-swingy that he or she seemed to be two distinct people. (If not, give it a try. It’s a real hoot!) This idea is taken to its visual, if not logical, conclusion in 1977’s That Obscure Object of Desire, the final film from eyeball-slicin’ Un Chien Andalou director Luis Buñuel. For this bizarre (yet surprisingly chaste) tale of lust, Buñuel cast two actresses in the role of Spanish housekeeper Conchita, the unattainable object of the obsession that sends bourgeois widower Mathieu’s (Fernando Rey) to the edge and back. Carole Bouquet’s chilly French demeanor and Angela Molina’s smoldering sex appeal might initially lead the viewer to think that the two actresses are representing different sides of Conchita’s personality, but as the story progresses, both begin to display the character’s full emotional spectrum. In a supplementary interview on the Criterion DVD of the film, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière states that Buñuel liked the idea of assigning two actresses to one role as a formal exercise and was even more pleased by the fact that each actress worked better in some scenes than the other did. Bring all your date’s personalities when the film screens as part of “The Golden Years: The Later Films of Luis Buñuel” at 6:20 p.m. (see Showtimes for other dates) at the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $8.50. (301) 495-6700. (Jason Powell)