Review of Belle de Jour (1967) by Cle S — 01 Jun 2014

So, I ended up watching this movie today and I feel scared. "Belle de Jour" is perhaps Bunuel's most accessible work but, it still is a remnant of a monstrosity, with a subject matter that would make even the modern viewer cringe.

Belle, Severine is a woman haunted by her own desires, and curiosities. Here, Bunuel decodes the secret to an erotic material in full, that the best eroticas are don't show more, they leave more to the imagination and titillates us through curiosity.

The film explores the realities and fantasies of Severine and in doing so, often times it seems like Bunuel is laughing at the entirety of the bourgeois, making fun of them. So, when the people walk into the whorehouse where Severine finds work, he contrasts their real life descriptions with their sexual fantasies, creating scenes that on the surface look like they were meant to showcase the fall of Severine, but, seem like an attempt to make fun of the people who are using her.

Her fantasies, her turn ons are all obscure, scary almost and yet, they are real when they are shown in the film, perhaps because they are so important to the protagonist. At the end, when the carriage bell rings, you are one with her, and the film has come a full circle.

Only you are left uncomfortable with what you have viewed. The actress gives a memorable performance, and her beauty, almost unmarked seems to be the perfect face of this kind of film. Even in the scene where she is tied, with blood coming out of her face, there is a sort of innocence, a sort of unchanging quality in her that makes it all seem alright.

The film borders on the haunting sometimes, and in the end, it is almost scary. There are moments which remind me of some characters I love. This woman walking past Severine as she watches the door leading to the whorehouse filled with doubt, exhibits a disdain towards her and immediately reminds me of the mysteriousness of Arnold Friend.

I do not know if the name of Anais, given to the businesswoman in charge of the whorehouse was a homage to Nin, but, sometimes it feels like this will be the one film that comes closest to depicting the intensity with which the writer wrote.