
That Obscure Object of Desire
1977

1972
Not RatedDirector
Marco Ferreri
Runtime
100 minutes
Average Rating
No ratings yetSynopsis
Liza meets the artist Giorgio and falls in love with him. She dreams of becoming the wife of Giorgio, but he is married. She dreams of being a close friend to him, but he has a favorite dog. Liza is ready for any sacrifice for the sake of her love. She kills Giorgio's dog and takes her place. Now she is a woman who always and everywhere follows her master.
Overall Score
Fair
Category Breakdown
LGBTQ+ Representation
The film lacks explicit LGBTQ+ characters or narratives. The story focuses exclusively on a distorted, singular obsession between the two central protagonists.
Gender Representation
The narrative subverts traditional gender hierarchies by depicting a woman who adopts an animalistic role to secure proximity to a man. This disrupts standard domestic archetypes and challenges patriarchal romantic arcs.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
Set in a seemingly homogeneous European urban landscape, the film lacks diverse casting. There is no intentional effort to represent a multicultural milieu or ethnic intersections.
Religious & Cultural Diversity
The film critiques modern societal structures and the emptiness of contemporary existence. It prioritizes existential nihilism over traditional religious or moral institutions, portraying social roles as hollow.
Disability Representation
Psychological instability and neurodivergent-coded behaviors serve as tools for existentialist commentary. The film lacks a nuanced exploration of specific disabilities or agency within those identities.
Strengths
Areas for Improvement
AI Analysis
Liza (1972) is a radical deconstruction of interpersonal dynamics that uses surrealism to dismantle social expectations. It excels at subverting gender roles, presenting a protagonist whose agency is expressed through a destructive rejection of traditional femininity. However, the film's narrow focus limits its breadth. The lack of LGBTQ+ representation and the absence of a multicultural cast result in low scores for racial and queer diversity. The narrative remains trapped within a localized, homogeneous setting. Ultimately, the film is a study of psychological decay and existentialism. While it provides a profound critique of cultural institutions, its lack of social intersectionality keeps the overall diversity score modest.

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1971

1976

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