Fernando Rey

  • Cet obscur objet du désir (1977)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, May 2022) In looking at legendary writer-director Luis Buñuel’s very long filmography, it looks as if his final film Cet obscur objet du désir was one of the last of his major titles that I hadn’t yet seen. I’m just glad I approached it with some knowledge of the rest of his work, because I’m not sure I would have known what to do with it had I seen it cold. After all, at face value, this is an absurdly odd romance between an older man and a volatile woman, played against a violent background of near-omnipresent terrorism. Interestingly enough, the female lead character is played by two actresses, often switching based on the mood of the character they represent. The script does have an interesting hook in that it features an older man (Fernando Rey, quite compelling) dumping a bucket of water on an unknown woman, then explaining to a small audience the reasons leading to such an outlandish gesture – much of the film that follows takes place in flashbacks, leading back to the water-dumping moment and going on from there. Theirs is not a fun or happy romance, with aggressive gestures from both parties punctuating multiple breakups. It’s all very off kilter, like Buñuel’s best movies. The cinematic technique is accessible (some colour cinematography giving a good period feel as the film travels from Seville to Paris) and the film remains compelling despite its intentional ambiguities and mysteries. Even the casual violence makes sense as a surrealist trope. It’s not my favourite Buñuel (that would remain Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie) but it’s well above most of his other films.

  • La femme aux bottes rouges [The Woman with Red Boots] (1974)

    La femme aux bottes rouges [The Woman with Red Boots] (1974)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, November 2021) In watching a Buñuel movie, I expect weirdness, and weirdness is what I got with La femme aux bottes rouges — although I didn’t get the Buñuel I expected. Writer-director Juan Luis Buñuel is the son of Luis Buñuel, but you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell the difference considering how closely does this film seem to stem from the same place as Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie. Having the beautiful Catherine Deneuve in the lead reminds us of Belle de Jour, and the controlled surrealism of the film clearly owes much to Buñuel père. The story, as much as can be gathered without an explanatory guide, has to do with a young woman (Deneuve) being courted by an elderly rich gentleman (Fernando Rey, remarkable), leading to rifts with her current lover, lust from another man who ends up shooting his wife in a hunting accident, and artists gathering at a retreat. But that’s not the weird part yet, because our heroine is a woman with the power to change reality, to make others do her bidding and create passageways out of paintings. What’s rather charming in La femme aux bottes rouges as it flirts with fantasy is the decidedly low-tech approach to its magic: Things appear, disappear or change after editing cuts: a low budget, low-effort approach that does enhance the eeriness of the fantastic by leaving the magical unseen. It’s really up to the viewers to pay attention and realize unnatural changes even though there are no showy special effects calling attention to themselves. (Speaking of special effects, I had to laugh at one scene in which Deneuve’s character briefly reveals herself naked to the elderly gentleman — she’s wearing a “naked” flesh-coloured bodysuit, and not a subtle one at that.)  As for the rest, well, weirdness abounds: Rey plays his mysterious character with quiet panache, while Deneuve remains enigmatic throughout. It’s a trip throughout art, dreams, semi-pretentious dialogue and people acting bizarrely. Frankly, it took me two attempts to get through La femme aux bottes rouges: I started the first attempt expecting something I could watch out of the corner of my eye and was mystified when the film resisted such a divided-attention approach: it worked much better when watched carefully, especially given what happens in between its cuts. It’s not necessarily recommended for everyone, but if you’re at the end of the Buñuel père’s filmography, consider this one a bonus.