Review of Belle de Jour (1967) by Rainer K — 13 Dec 2012

I guess this as little surreal as it gets for Bunuel.

1) Observation: Catherine Deneuve is a great actress. And, she's really really hot.

2) Question: Is it Dream or Reality?

3) Answer: Who cares?

For some months now, Luis Bunuel starts to grow in my appreciation. He's a pretty neat director, who not only makes interesting films but also challenging ones.

It's films like that, that I describe as entertaining, although Bunuel may not agree with this result. He doesn't aim for entertainment, maybe not even for provocation or critic but just to use the medium as sophisticated as possible. He never gets more normal than in Belle de Jour, but still, in the end we can't tell if it's dream or reality.

This is the kind of film, we film buffs love. And we love them for a reason. Bunuel treats us like a thinking person. Modern blockbuster directors would create sophisticated gimmicky dream worlds, full of CGI eye candy. But would they make a better movie or a movie that better conveys what he wants to tell us. Probably not.

This is psychoanalytical storytelling in the tradition of Schnitzler, put on screen in the purest possible form. Not so much visual storytelling than a great use of storytelling tools that originated in literature. But still as freaky and creepy and morbid as we love our Bunuel.