That Obscure Object of Desire

In Bunuel's film, I believe it is fairly clear that Conchita is meant to represent the "obscure object of desire". This is evident because everything about her character is somehow obscured or hidden. The most blatant of these obscurities is the fact that she is played by two characters. The transience and amorphousness of this does much to obscure her character. Another device used to obscure her person is the fact that she holds no steady job. In fact, nothing about her remains static. She moves from job to job, house to house, and not even her reactions to Matthieu are congruous. The only constant that we know of is her love for dancing. She even says that this is the only thing that interests her.

I find dancing to be an appropriate act to represent desire, and as such, Conchita. Desire is essentially a longing for something. It is not the actual act of attaining or having said object. Actually, once the object desired is attained, the desire no longer exists. Dancing, especially some Spanish dances, is a good example of this. When the couples are dancing, it is easy to see the sexual tension that can build between them. Some dances even include motions that have sexual connotations. Despite all of this, intercourse is never achieved. Depending on the couple, passion and desire are clearly evident, yet no resolution is found. Conchita's solo dancing also demonstrates this. She dances for tourists (which are by nature transient) who clearly want and desire her body, yet she never (as far as we can see) gives herself to them.