Belle de Jour

BELLE DE JOUR: THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION has just been released by Studiocanal in a spanking new 4K restoration. Catherine Deneuve delivers a terrific performance in this Luis Bunuel classic from 1967.

Deneuve is the sexually frustrated housewife Séverine, married to successful doctor Dr. Pierre Serizy (Jean Sorel) and surrounded by luxury. Despite her love for Pierre, it seems impossible to be intimate with him, something that harks back to a traumatic experience in her childhood. Instead, she dreams (in surreal scenes) of sadomasochism, domination, and humiliating treatment. In fact the film begins with such a scene – cunningly deceiving the viewers before we realise the action was yet another perverted fantasy of Séverine.
During a stay at a ski resort, Pierre and Séverin meet two friends - Henri Husson (Michel Piccoli) and Renée (Macha Méril). Right from the outset Séverin feels disgusted by Henri, whereas he feels drawn to her and makes several attempts to get closer to her. Casually he mentions a discreet brothel lead by one Madame Anais (Genevieve Page) and a friend of his who 'works’ there. Disgusted yet intrigued by the thought, the timid Séverine visits the brothel and after a rocky start (no check-ups etc either) she hesitantly agrees to serve clients every day from 2pm to 5pm in her new guise as ‘Belle de Jour’. She steadfastely refuses to work evenings so she can be back in the house before Pierre comes home from work.

One day, Henri turns out to be one of the visiting clients and although Séverine is shocked, not to mention embarrassed, about the situation he doesn’t seem to surpirsed to find her working for Madame Anais). Suffice to say she refuses to even touch him – in a gentlemanly manner he he walks away smiling and promises not to tell his friend Pierre of his discovery but not before humiliating Séverine further by leaving money on the bed with the words: “Buy your husband some chocolates from the money, will you…”

Another client arrives at the brothel together with a friend, the client is young gangster Marcel (Pierre Clémenti) and one look at him tells us he’s a seriously shady character – he even displays hit metal teet with pride and remarks that his real teeth were knocked out during a fight. Séverine is immediately fascinated by him because he is as dangerous as her fantasies. As the mutual attraction grows stronger – despite Séverine claiming she loves no one else but her husband and even managed to suddenly become intimate with him, Marcel grows more and more jealous and extemely possessive. Alarmed, Séverine decides to leave the brothel forever. However, Marcel manages to track her private address thanks to a friend and tries to blackmail her while in her apartment. When she asks him to leave, he merely looks at a framed picture of Pierre and murmurs “He’s the obstacle” before walking through the door. A short while later, Séverine hears several shots from outside the street…

This multi-award-winning film is timeless and while all the actors are compelling it is Deneuve who truly captivates with her "unapproachable blonde" appeal. Some rather kinky scenes are responsible for the film’s 18-Certificate although it’s all pretty mild by nowadays standards– no doubt it was a very different story back in 1967! The 2-Disc Set (both Blu-ray and DVD) contains a whole lot of extras.