Angela


Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina

Recently Todd Haynes' biopic on Bob Dylan, I'm not there, saw as many as six different actors (Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Heather Ledger among others) playing different personas of Dylan in separate segments that were intercutted in the film. The actors each had their own individual storyline based on the life and work of Dylan. Sure, every other film we see have different actors playing the very same character at young and old age but it's difficult to think of more than one film where two actors take turns actually playing the same character in every other scene througout the whole length of a film. The film namely is surrealist-wallah Luis Bunuel's final effort, Cet obscur objet du désir (That Obscure Obejct of Desire) from 1978 where French actress Carole Bouquet (the former face of Chanel and also Gérard Dépardieu's main squeeze) and Spanish actress Angela Molina, two equally ravishing women, both play the role of Conchita to Fernando Rey's middle-aged Mathieu.

As a concept this is quite risqué and demanding on the viewer's part in terms of suspension of disbelief but mostly on any two actors taking on such a task as it will require for the character to still feel consist and will put pressure on both about their performances being no less than equal so that there is no outshining the other. Nonetheless, it would be fairly interesting to see more of these sort of dual performances on screen but there will likely not be much of that, at least not within mainstream cinema.

Bunuels' films are about respectable middle-class people trying to deal with giving in to their inner desires. In Cet obscur object du désir Rey's Mathieu falls in love and obsesses over much younger Conchita, trying to court and win her over but continously gets his love for her denied. Ultimately the film tells of man's human nature of desiring what cannot be obtained. The film begins randomly with Mathieu audaciously pooring a bucket of water from a train, over Conchita's head while she is trying to board the train, to the great curiousity of fellow passengers. From there the film continues with Mathieu in flasbacks giving an account of their story and what has led him to this little act that just played out. 


Kommentarer
Postat av: Anonym

Equally exquisite in the movie if I'm not mistaken.

2009-05-09 @ 12:54:49
Postat av: Ash

They were!

2009-05-13 @ 00:11:45

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