Dipped my toe into an old classic thanks to YouTube earlier this morning due to my inability to say in bed asleep it was the film Belle de Jour (1967) with the delectable Catherine Deneuve. In the film, Deneuve plays a newlywed woman who spends her afternoons as a prostitute while her husband is at work.
The name Belle de Jour hit the headlines some time ago after Dr Brooke Magnanti who was writing a blog under that name detailing her own exploits as a prostitute. It lead to a TV series starring Billie Piper, which will never be a classic.
Well-crafted and beautifully shot I would recommend this film. The opening scene we see Séverine (Catherine Deneuve) and husband Pierre Serizy (Jean Sorel) in a horse-drawn carriage with two uniformed coachmen driving along a tree-lined track. This idyllic picture is shattered as the carriage comes to a stop and Pierre and the coachmen force Séverine out of the carriage. Dragged across the forest, gagged, bound, and stripped to the waist, after which the coachmen begin beating her with whips while Pierre looks on. One of the coachmen takes off his coat and begins fondling Séverine (who somewhat surprisingly has a look of contentment on her face)—and then director Luis Buñuel cuts to an absolutely non-threatening Pierre in the bathroom of the couple’s comfortable Paris apartment, preparing to join Séverine in the couple’s bedroom. Only then do we realize that the opening scene was a dream, or a daydream, which took place only in Séverine’s mind.
We learn in the opening scenes that Séverine and Pierre do not have a sexually functioning marriage and they are sleeping in separate beds. While out for a meal with a friend she expresses her frustration with her situation, her friend gossips about a mutual friend who now works at a brothel. While meeting Husson later at the tennis club he also seems to know about the mutual friends activities and on seeing interest in Séverine face he mentions a brothel at, 11 Cité Jean de Saumur. He also confesses his desire for her, but rejects his advances.
Seeking out the house, she couldn’t bring herself to go inside, goes for a walk ending up in a park, and thinks over her dilemma. Finely with the courage found, she visits the establishment and after a nervous chat, she and the madam come to an agreement Séverine can work between two until five in the afternoon. On her return after some pleasantries, a customer entertaining two girls expresses a desire in seeing the new girl. She thinks of running on hearing this but the Madame Anais (Genevieve Page) lends her into the bedroom where her snobby attitude soon annoys Monsieur Adolphe,
Fat, short and jolly and her best customer, Monsieur Adolphe gets some champagne flowing and after trying to jolly everyone up still Séverine is acting patronising and attempts to force himself on her. She runs out but the Madame sends her back in and after a bit of rough stuff she complies with his demands, next we see her leave the house. When she gets home, she has a bath, burns her underwear just as her husband comes home.
Then we see husband and Husson in a field next, we see Husson throwing cows mess at her as she is tied to a post… another dream sequence.
Going back to the brothel after a week, she receives a frosty reception but is welcome back. Another unspectacular client with roleplay in mind but she is out of her depth, he calls for one of the other girls while Séverine watches through a spyhole. Her next client is a Japanese guy and she throws herself in and afterwards seem to be a totally different woman, satisfied.
Husson reappears calling on Séverine but she tells her maid to tell him she is not in which he hears. This leads to a fantasy sequence where she and Husson have sex under the table while their partners chat away.
Back at the brothel an old customer turns up after a robbery with a young gangster named Marcel (Pierre Clementi) who becomes obsessed with Séverine and observes no boundaries in that obsession. Her husband senses something is wrong however, she tells him not to be stupid in so many words. She continues to fan the flames of Marcel’s obsession while working at the brothel, he wants to no her name, were she lived although she tells him no but little does she realise the trouble ahead.
On top of that, Husson turns up at the brothel much to Séverine surprise and he asks for her with her quickly asking him not to tell her husband. Séverine tells him how much she needs this secret life we have already seen her force her husband to cut a holiday short to get back to the City and resume her afternoon activities (weekdays only). When he leaves he pays her without have sex but announces he as many friends he could sent to see her. She tells the Madame she must leave for good with the Madame believing it is because of Marcel. On leaving, she is followed by an acquaintance of Marcel’s.
Marcel then turns up at her flat and tries to blackmail her to go back to the brothel or meet him in an hotel and spend the night with him but she tells him no so he settles down to tell him soon as he comes home. Finally, he goes but not before calling her husband the obstacle so hangs around outside the flat to clear away the obstacle.
Séverine is woken by the sound of gunfire looking out of the window her husband sprawled on the pavement below while Marcel drives off. His getaway is not very successful. After a minor car crash, he is unfortunate to attract the attention of a police officer and while doing a runner he himself is shot and dies.
From the hospital waiting room we are shot forward to the flat with her husband now confine to a wheelchair and blind has she plays the dutiful wife. Husson turns up promising to tell all to her husband about the brothel she does not try to stop him surprisingly. When he leaves Séverine enters the room she sits down next Pierre (husband) jumps out of the wheelchair as if nothing has happened, more dreaming.
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