Belle de Jour (1967)

Belle de Jour (1967, FRA/ITA) C-101m. ***½ D: Luis Bunuel. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Geneviève Page, Pierre Clémenti, Francoise Fabian, Francisco Rabal, Francis Blanche, Bernard Fresson, Luis Bunuel. Outstanding character study and examination of bourgeois morals is one of master surrealist Bunuel's most famous films. Young Deneuve's seemingly perfect marriage and relationship with her husband, doctor Sorel, is flawed by masochistic tendencies inside herself. She flees into the world of prostitution and starts leading a double life. Her descent and guilt is followed consequently by director Bunuel. Altogether fascinating treaty on the corset of the bourgeoisie was a scandal when originally released. Today it is a key film of the mid-1960s. Photographed by Sacha Vierny, costumes by Yves Saint-Laurent. For a similar examination of sexual fantasies and obsessions turn to Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT (1999), for which this may have been an influence.


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© Ron Altman