Belle de Jour (1967)

A frigid young housewife decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute.

Director:

Luis Buñuel (as Luis Bunuel)

Writers:

Joseph Kessel (novel) (as Joseph Kessel de l'Académie Française), Luis Buñuel (adaptation) (as Luis Bunuel)

Stars:

Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Catherine Deneuve	...	Séverine Serizy / Belle de Jour
Jean Sorel	...	Pierre Serizy
Michel Piccoli	...	Henri Husson
Geneviève Page	...	Madame Anais
Pierre Clémenti	...	Marcel (as Pierre Clementi)
Françoise Fabian	...	Charlotte
Macha Méril	...	Renee (as Macha Meril)
Muni	...	Pallas
Maria Latour	...	Mathilde
Claude Cerval
Michel Charrel	...	Footman
Iska Khan	...	Asian client
Bernard Musson	...	Majordomo
Marcel Charvey	...	Prof. Henri
François Maistre	...	L'enseignant

Storyline

Severine is a beautiful young woman married to a doctor. She loves her husband dearly, but cannot bring herself to be physically intimate with him. She indulges instead in vivid, kinky, erotic fantasies to entertain her sexual desires. Eventually she becomes a prostitute, working in a brothel in the afternoons while remaining chaste in her marriage.

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Plot Keywords:

brothel | prostitute | marriage | daydream | pelted with mud | 

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Taglines:

Luis Bunuel's Masterpiece of Erotica!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French Spanish Mongolian

Release Date:

10 April 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Belle de Jour

Filming Locations:

Valberg, Guillaumes, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,462, 25 March 2018, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$26,331, 19 April 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Robert et Raymond Hakim,Paris Film Productions,Five Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Luis Buñuel shot the opening sequence outdoors near a country estate. It was during the very first day of shooting this opening sequence that Buñuel heard about some complaints from his actors. "An assistant came over to tell me the actors wanted to talk to me," said Buñuel. It concerned the syrupy dialogue between Pierre and his bride Séverine before the violent sexual attack. "Sorel had crossed out his lines and had written 'his' dialogue over them," Buñuel continued. "'What have you done?' I asked him. Very politely, he said, 'Excuse me, sir, doesn't this seem ridiculous to you?' 'Yes,' I told him, 'but don't you know what happens afterwards? After this banal dialogue, you begin to beat her with a whip, to drag her through the mud. Just deliver it as it is written.' And that's how he said it."

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Goofs

When Severine and friend are in the cab, the projected background in the cab does not match the exterior as seen when Severine gets out.

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Quotes

Madame Anais: You'll meet the other two girls soon. Mathilde and Charlotte. Both very nice. I only tolerate well-bred people here and they must be cheerful. I want people to enjoy their work. Just last week I had to let a girl go. Very beautiful, too. But she was too vulgar. It's a shame.

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Connections

Referenced in Settling the Score (2006)

User Reviews

A Masterful Collaboration

Catherine Deneuve is perfectly cast as an upper-class Parisian housewife who decides to spend her afternoons working in a brothel in Luis Bunuel's subversive masterpiece which proves that intimation can be just as effective as exploitation. Just about everything here--especially the shocking conclusion--is open to interpretation, from impulse to rationalization, and it's to Bunuel's genius that he is able to stand back, letting his audience fill in the gaps in their imagination and, if necessary, implicate themselves. And in Deneuve, Bunuel has found a brilliant blank canvas for the audience to express themselves upon; never fully clear on her motivations (though some tantalizing flashbacks offer hints), she alternates between classic French coldness and classic French passion and though she's intentionally unreachable, she's always fully aware of how to manipulate the spell she's cast over you. A great example of a master of cinema in deep collaboration with a master actress--their exploration of the female psyche runs the gamut of every possible emotion while never being crass or lowering themselves to merely reducing and simplifying.