It’s been a while since we’ve watched a film by Luis Buñuel and here he is directing Catherine Deneuve who I of course adore from Jacques Demy’s musicals. As you might expect from Buñuel, this is a very different kind of film, charged as it is with sexual fantasies, sado-masochism and obvious references to Freudian psychology.

Séverine Serizy is married to a well off doctor who loves her unconditionally. However due to unspecified childhood traumas, she has difficulties with physical intimacy and instead fantasizes about being forced to sexually submit to men. One of her husband’s friends tries to seduce her and she recoils in disgust. However when he talks to her about a local brothel, she feels compelled to go there to see for herself. The madam who owns the place assumes that she has come to look for a job as a prostitute and after some persuasion
Séverine accepts, taking on the name Belle de Jour. When she is sent to the first client, she tries to escape but submits when physically forced. Soon afterwards she returns to work there during the day when her husband is at work and grows to become more comfortable with sex. She keeps this double life a secret from her husband and even grows to love him even more. But naturally she runs into complications when her husband’s friend learns that she is there and a regular client who is a mobster becomes obsessed with her.

This is a highly regarded film but I don’t much care for it and now that I think of it, I’ve never really liked this entire genre at all. Of course, I’m aware that non-traditional sexual preferences exist but I’m perfectly fine with them so long as they involve consensual relationships between adults and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be healthy. This film and others like it however work on the premise that such fantasies are illicit and at least somewhat shameful and the plain fact is that there is less and less reason for that to be true these days. I suspect that a lot of the impact of this film was its shock value for the time it was released. If so, this film can’t compare to more modern versions of the story which are far darker, such as Elle and Nymphomaniac. A bolder approach would be if the director clearly took the position that there is nothing wrong with Séverine’s sexual proclivities and it is merely that she needs to find a safe outlet for them that doesn’t harm other people. Judging from the consequences of her actions depicted here however, it doesn’t seem that Buñuel was ready to go that far and that’s why I always find films like this to be somewhat hypocritical.

Deneuve is beautiful here as always and part of the thrill of the film at that time must have been the juxtaposition between the elegance of a classy Parisian woman and the sordid grittiness of the sex trade. Then there are the different types of sexual kinks on display which the other prostitutes at the brothel try to satisfy. Again, this might have been shocking then but it’s not really that interesting now. Buñuel also pulls off some splendidly beautiful shots here and there, especially when it comes to depicting Séverine ‘s fantasies and of course there are the nods to the French New Wave with the gangsters here looking like they just walked out of a Godard film. These are all good reasons to enjoy this film.

Overall however I’m disappointed as it falls well short of my expectations given this film’s stature and in comparison with the director’s other work. I suppose that even this level of sexual experimentation was considered pretty outré back then but I find this to be much tamer in terms of creativity and surreality than for example The Exterminating Angel.