Review of Belle de Jour (1967) by Jennifer S — 22 Jun 2009

Belle de Jour is an exploration of female desire and sexuality...directed by a man. In the film, the luminous Catherine Deneuve plays Severine, a bored, prim housewife who secretly works as a high-class prostitute under the name "Bell de Jour". She takes the job partially out of curiosity (her husband is kind, but bland and she refuses to sleep with him) and partially out of her own desire to be humiliated and debased. When I watched this movie for the first time in college, there was a lot of debate over whether it was misogynist and whether men (and women, such as the Madame she works for) take advantage of Severine. I was in the camp that believed the film was NOT misogynist. No one forces Severine to become a prostitute; and her elaborate daydreams of being beaten and ravished underscore her own personal, if unusual, desires. However, I would not go as far to call the movie and Severine's journey "empowering" or "liberating". Severine is indeed taken advantage of and subject to other men's whims--and once her secret life comes out in the open, it ends up hurting others she did not intend to hurt. However, the one empowering aspect of Severine's foray into prostitution is that it allows her to make the adult choice to satisfy her curiosity. Even though that choice has consequences, she has the power to make it. Even though Severine is submissive--even passive--I don't see her as a victim. I see her as an active agent in her own passiveness, if that makes sense.

Another thing about Belle de Jour is that it is an astoundingly beautiful film. The costumes and scenery are all bright colors and clean lines. The sleigh bells you can hear in the background during Severine's fantasies are oddly hypnotic. The movie itself plays out like a fantasy--seducing and lulling you into a dreamy state.