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| BELLE DE JOUR (1967) | |
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A
life in the upper-class requires many things such as leisure, discretion, grace,
and money. Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) has all these
qualities in an abundance as she goes about her daily duties such as
shopping and playing tennis while maintaining an exterior beauty. In
this luxurious environment the women often find themselves bored,
depressed, or discontented with their lives as they often seek other means
of exploring life. A friend of Séverine reveals that one of her acquaintances is secretly
working as a prostitute for monetary purposes. This fascinates Séverine's
innocent curiosity as she is rather oblivious of sex and her own
sexuality. Through a friend of her husband, who also is attracted by
Séverine's innocent sex appeal, Séverine learns the whereabouts of a
small private brothel. The curiosity of Séverine forces her to
explore the brothel as well as her own sexuality as she begins to deal
with her guilt, morality, and her Catholic values. Belle de Jour is a film that explores the human curiosity when time and place is conveniently infused with what is forbidden. Séverine's curiosity presents itself when her boredom sets in as it does through her daily routine, which lacks significant meaning. The time and place for Séverine's curiosity is presented through her friends as they serve her the forbidden fruit. Initially Séverine circles the issue like a cat around hot milk that is afraid of getting burnt, but when she takes a bite of the forbidden fruit she becomes obsessed with what has been presented to her. However, it also presents a backside of the issue at hand as she must deal with the moral consequences of what she is doing. Luis Buńuel directed a brilliant film that is full of allegorical imagery that urges the audience to ponder the dualism of Séverine's situation. The dualism stems from what Séverine desires as it produces both guilt and pleasure interjectionally. Buńuel creates this guilt-pleasure atmosphere with an artistic manner that is saturated in psychological insights of moral predicaments. This is visualized though Buńuel's brilliant direction as it offers a truly exceptional cinematic experience. |
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France / Italy |
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| BY KIM ANEHALL – 8/6/2004 | |
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The Internet Movie Database. |
