Bourgeois, Buñuel, and Venus' Empty Shell: Hysteria and Crisis in Cet obscur objet du désir (1977)

Abstract

Cet obscur objet du désir (Luis Buñuel, 1977) stands out for its representation of idealized femininity as an impossible desire. Here, this aspect of Buñuel's last film is re-examined from the perspective of two works by the artist Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010)—Janus Fleuri (1968) and Fillette (1968)—and an icon of classical femininity, the Venus de Milo (c.100 BC). Using a psychoanalytical framework to question the relationship between the idealized female archetype and male hysteria, this article traces a pathway from the Venus de Milo to Bourgeois via Buñuel's film. The contrast between repetitive images of passive, mutilated femininity and Bourgeois' challenging pieces may shed new light on the difference between the excess represented by Buñuel (using two physically different actresses in a single role) and that represented by Bourgeois' sculptures. This contemporary perspective on the male hysteric allows us to look back at the two women in this film as the products of a metaphorical arc-en-cercle enacted by both male protagonist and director. Here, woman is more than simply Irigaray's ‘obliging prop’ of masculine fantasy; she is symptomatic of something more extreme, inherently tied to a crisis of self, brought about by the experience of desire.