Review of Belle de Jour (1967) by Jens T — 24 Jul 2010

Brilliant psycho-sexual exploratory film by Luis Bunuel. It dared to look at the moral ambiguity of extreme sexuality through a deprived female's point of view(played by the Catherine Deneuve). Of course, it would not be a complete Bunuel film without the trademark surrealist images.

But unlike his other works, "Belle de Jour" is pretty much aware of its sudden jumps, be it the straightforward reality, or the protagonist's self-gratifying fantasies. Thus catapulting her in a decision to become a "prostitute", a choice filmed by Bunuel with a natural ease of conversational exchanges rather than a more sensationalist way, a brief scene(between Severine and Madame Anais) that I found to be a little out of place in a work of such an eccentric director.

But Bunuel, always the Bourgeois satirist, has yet again injected some brief criticisms to the said social class, but this time not to their lavish excesses. Instead, as it being an open film about sex, it critiques the bizarre fixations of the rich ones, ranging from "slave-mistress" role-playing, to necrophilia(underlined by the reaction of Deneuve's character; More fascinated than disgusted).

"Belle de Jour" is a film that may account to limitless interpretations, and countless speculations about its ambiguous overcoat. But stripping it off its complex backbone, it's simply a consequential tale of a "pure" housewife which happened to enter a place that houses "the oldest profession in the world".

Not by chance. But by choice. Then everything else follows.