| Belle de Jour |
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Directed by Luis Buñuel, France 1967 WINNER : GOLDEN LION AT 1967 VENICE FILM FESTIVAL |
| Summary: |
| Belle de Jour dramatises the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favourite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve stars as a wealthy but bored newlywed, eager to taste life to the fullest. She seemingly gets her wish early in the film when she is kidnapped, tied to a tree and whipped. It turns out that this is only a daydream, but her subsequent visits to a neighbouring brothel, where she offers her services, certainly seem to be real. This illusion/reality dichotomy extends to the final scenes, in which we are offered two possible endings. |
| What the Critics say: |
| "Deneuve is radiant in the lead role ... packed with Buñuel's trademark surrealistic imagery and a few really memorable fantasy sequences." (Austin Trunick - Under the Radar) |