LUIS BUNUEL

Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBBB

France/Italy, 1967.  Robert et Raymond Hakim, Paris Film Productions, Five Film.  Adaptation and dialogue by Luis Bunuel, Jean-Claude Carriere, based on the novel by Joseph Kessel.  Cinematography by Sacha Vierny.  Produced by Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim.  Production Design by Robert Clavel.  Costume Design by Helen Nourry.  Film Editing by Louisette Hautecoeur.

Catherine Deneuve plays an icy, bored housewife whose life with her gorgeous, rich doctor husband (Jean Sorel) seems to be perfect but it’s not enough for her.  She avoids sexual contact with him and retreats into her own little world of sadomasochistic fantasies, then when an opportunity comes to explore the dark side of her desires she takes it, going to a brothel and working there in the afternoons (thus her name being “Belle de Jour”).

She soon has a devoted clientele, including one dangerous young man who wants to own her outside of her paid service as well as within. The end result of Deneuve’s experiment is the disastrous one you’d expect, and yet in director Luis Bunuel’s delicate hands it’s curiously not as judgmental as could be anticipated. Deneuve is marvelous, bringing her cold beauty to serve the director’s purposes, and showing an acute intelligence in the part that would mark her performances for years to come.

The Criterion Collection:  #593

Venice Film Festival Award:  Golden Lion