Rent Belle de Jour on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: Joseph Kessel (novel), Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière (adaptation)
Directed by: Luis Buñuel
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli
Rated: --
Watch the trailer
Plot
A housewife decides to spend her afternoons as a prostitute.
Verdict
It's a psychological film that prompts you to wonder why people think
and do certain things. How does trauma affect people? You're never sure
where fantasy begins or ends.
Watch it.
Review
This is a French film with subtitles. The title is a play on words. It
translates to lady of the day which is a play on lady of the night.
The movie drops you right in the middle with a scene of Séverine being
beaten in the woods, given by her husband to an older man. It turns out
this scene is Séverine's fantasy, and she has some odd ones.
Despite her sexualized fantasies, Séverine had a difficult time being
intimate with her husband. They sleep in separate beds. Séverine's
intimacy issues stem from a childhood trauma by an older man. It's a
scene so quick, you're not sure what exactly you saw.
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| Belle de Jour -It's... interesting. |
It's this trauma that has made intimacy difficult, but also has led to
her fantasies of domination by older men. That trauma has affected her
whole life, whether she realizes it or not.
The French appear to be more open about prostitutes. Everybody visits
them, it seems. Séverine is curious. Her views on sex are non-standard.
Does she want to explore her fantasies or does she want to fulfill a
sexual need that obviously isn't satiated at home?
Séverine begins work as a prostitute, but just in the afternoons so that
she can return home before her husband. We can only assume she works to
fill the void, or at least to explore the void. Her first encounter
causes her to reconsider. It's not normal, but she finds fulfillment.
Her relationship with her husband also improves.
Séverine's fantasies have become a reality. Is she daydreaming or is it
really happening? She's meeting men that dominate her, just like her
fantasies.
Séverine meets Marcel, a gangster, through the brothel. She leaves her brothel job due to Marcel's jealousy and control issues.
The end makes you wonder if the plot was a dream, but that's also
selling it short. Séverine has always had fantasies, but now they aren't
sexualized. She's wishing for a better life... or her former life. It's
brought her back to reality in a way. Her current situation is harsh,
but she also was part of the catalyst.
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