| 4th | Top drama films |
| Belle de jour | |
|---|---|
 Belle de jour movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Luis Buñuel |
| Produced by | Henri Baum Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim |
| Written by | Luis Buñuel Jean-Claude Carrière Joseph Kessel |
| Starring | Catherine Deneuve Jean Sorel Michel Piccoli Geneviève Page |
| Cinematography | Sacha Vierny |
| Editing by | Louisette Hautecoeur |
| Distributed by | Valoria (France) Allied Artists (U.S.) |
| Release date(s) | May 24, 1967 (France) April 10, 1968 (U.S.) |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Country | France/Italy |
| Language | French/Spanish |
Belle de Jour is a 1967 French film starring Catherine Deneuve as a woman who decides to spend her days as a prostitute while her husband is at work. The title is the French name of the daylily (literally: "daylight beauty"), a flower that blooms only during the day, but also refers to a prostitute whose trade is conducted in daytime. The film was directed by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel, based on the 1928 novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel. American director Martin Scorsese promoted a 2002 release of the film on DVD.
Contents |
Séverine Serizy is a young, beautiful housewife who has masochistic fantasies about elaborate floggings and bondage. She is married to a doctor (Jean Sorel) and loves him, but cannot share physical intimacy with him. A male friend, Monsieur Husson (Michel Piccoli), mentions a high-class brothel to Séverine, also confessing his desire for her, and she secretly manages to work at the brothel during the afternoon (using the pseudonym Belle de jour). The brothel is run by Madame Anaïs (Geneviève Page). Séverine will work only from two to five o'clock each day, returning to her blissfully unaware husband in the evening, but she attends only intermittently.
As the film progresses, Séverine becomes entangled with Marcel, a young gangster, who offers her the thrills and excitement contained in her fantasies. The situation becomes more complicated when Séverine decides to leave the brothel, with Madame Anaïs' agreement, after finding Marcel has become too demanding, and jealous of her husband. Husson has also discovered her secret as a potential, though unwilling, client. One of the gangster's associates tracks Séverine to her home address. Marcel visits her, and threatens to reveal her hidden identity, but Séverine persuades him to leave.
He waits outside for her husband to return home and shoots him three times before escaping and eventually being shot by the police. Séverine's husband survives, but is left in a coma. The police are unable to find a motive for the attempted murder, but after he leaves hospital, now blind and in a wheelchair, Husson visits him and possibly tells him the truth.
The film ends with Séverine escaping into fantasy once more; this time, however, there are no sexual undertones. Her husband is healthy again and they kiss before looking out the window on to the opening scene of the film.
The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1967.
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