83 of 1001 Movies: Belle De Jour (1967)

The premise of Belle De Jour is too interesting to demise, and upon starting the movie it does not fail in getting your attention. This will be a difficult film to turn away from, and stop and start if you find you have to. Luis Bunel isn't a director I like, but I tried to not let my personal dislike of him and his work so far get in the way of my viewing. Like most of his others this one is erotic without being graphic, and has some sort of surreal layer to it. The guy had been doing films since the 30s so it seeems like Martin Scorsese wouldn't even need to be the main name you stick to it.

Severine has a lot of fantasies, but her actual life doesn't seem to be invigorating her in the sense they do. She is struggling to be intimate with her husband, Pierre, due to her lack of attractiveness to him, so when a friend mentions a brothel ran by Madame Anais she can't help, but be interested, and drops by for a visit. Once arriving she sort of finds herself allowing herself to be used as a prostitute, and goes by the name Belle De Jour. Her excursions get a little odd, and dangerous though putting herself and others at risk...much like her fantasies seem to have always envisioned.


Such an odd movie, but it holds your interest. Catherine Deneuve is mesmerizing in her role, and you sort of wonder if that is a repercussion of the abuse that has happened, or if she is just dense. There just doesn't seem to be much personality there. Who you really care about is her poor husband who just wants a wife to give him affection, and have a normal marriage with, but Severine just doesn't seem to be into that idea. Instead she probably ends up hurting him in the deepest of ways.

There are some jumbled flashbacks through in here and there to explain perhaps Severine dysfunctional fantasies, and why she is sort of absent as far as being. The thing is they can sometimes get confusing as far as what is happening in these flashbacks of her life. Most of the time Bunel tries to blend the fantasies and flashbacks with her current life, which probably doesn't make it any smoother. There is also a really creepy guy in the movie, Marcel, and the film just gets two times more interesting when that dynamic when he is thrown in. What is up with all the weird guys? They seem to be too scared to act on their fetishes, and fantasies with women that aren't prostitutes.

Belle De Jour is also a really beautifully filmed movie. It is like a photograph through and through. The winter really never has looked so pretty, and the film looks cold, but somehow the pink and orange tints bring out a bit of needed warmth. The thing is the film misses some critical points in the help that Severine probably really needs having been sexually abused. Acting out in the sexual manor she is definitely isn't healthy, and yet the movie doesn't seem to deem the need for help. You feel bad, but there is no quality to make anything better. Instead everything gets to the worst point, and explodes, making it something you walk away from just feeling really pitiful. As usual you walk away from his film feeling sort of gross, and much of it was just there for the sake of being shocking.

Rating 4 of 10