Surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel reached the apex of his cinematic art with Belle de Jour, a sensual, sophisticated examination of frigidity and masochistic longings that mixes fantasy and reality with such dexterity that it almost ceases to be important what’s real and what isn’t. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Berlin Film Festival, Belle de Jour continues to impress today with its poised storytelling, its enigmatic characters, and its baffling conclusions.
Belle de Jour (Blu-ray)
Directed by Luis Bunuel
Studio: Criterion
Year: 1967
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: PCM 1.0 French
Subtitles: English
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.95
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Review Date: January 13, 2012
The Film
4.5/5
Married to handsome surgeon Pierre Serizy (Jean Sorel) but not feeling sexual passion for him, bored bourgeois housewife Séverine (Catherine Deneuve) hears of an acquaintance who’s working afternoons in a brothel turning tricks. Family friend Henri Husson (Michel Piccoli) who’s been making unwanted sexual advances toward Séverine happens to mention a high class brothel in Paris which Séverine examines and decides to go to work there for three hours each afternoon. Madam Anais (Genevieve Page) is delighted to have such a fresh-faced and aristocratic beauty as one of her girls, and Belle de Jour (her alias on the job) is born becoming quite a hit with the customers. But one particular customer, drug dealer Marcel (Pierre Clementi), falls in love with Belle and wants her exclusively for himself. Her refusal of his overtures comes right on the heels of Henri’s making a long delayed return to the brothel where he finds his old amour now working.
The script by director Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere only hints at the reasons for Séverine’s frigidity with her husband (a molestation incident in her youth which left her feeling so tainted that she refuses communion as a child and in adulthood has perpetual fantasies involving masochistic floggings, shootings, and scatological degradation), but it’s clear that she’s happily handling the myriad kinky sexual encounters she’s having with a host of men at work (for a story so connected to sex and lust, the movie is very discreet; even Deneuve’s nudity is handled with great modesty). Apart from Marcel, we don’t get to know her other clients much, and the Marcel scenes are pitched very melodramatically making one doubt their real-world existence late in the movie. True, Bunuel serves us up several possible endings, and doesn’t offer a shred of proof which (if any) might be the real end of the story, but that’s part of the film’s genius. With fantasies floating throughout the scenario, it’s easier to just enjoy what we see and not wait for explanations that are never going to come. Bunuel’s direction, however, is sublime. Very economical in his use of cutting and pacing, he does wonderful things with close-ups of Séverine’s feet (uncertain in climbing the stairs on her first time at the brothel) and fingers (hesitantly inching across a table on her way to learning her husband’s reaction to some upsetting news). He also offers a couple of shout-outs to fellow New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard with some obvious allusions to Breathless.
Catherine Deneuve was at the apex of her beauty when this film was made, and her stunning, glacial looks recall Grace Kelly at her most ethereal. She handles the jumps between fantasy and reality with aplomb, and one sees the emotional progression from unsurety about undertaking this new sexual venture to the eventual delight on her face as she heads to work each afternoon. Michel Piccoli is the essence of French oily suavity as the insinuating Henri. Genevieve Page is a standout as brothel madam Anais with her kind but firm handling of her girls and their clients. Jean Sorel doesn’t have much to do except look handsome and be understanding as the locked-out husband, and Pierre Clementi goes perhaps a little bit overboard as the threatening mafia type.
Video Quality
4.5/5
The film has been framed at its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. For the most part, the image is gorgeous with bright but controlled color saturation, excellent sharpness, and crisp detail. Flesh tones occasionally take on a too pink texture, and there are some noticeable soft shots particularly in the carriage riding sequences that dot throughout the movie. The soft white subtitles are easy to read. The film has been divided into 23 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The PCM 1.0 (1.1 Mbps) sound mix doesn’t have a great deal of resonance, but the sound is clean and in no way affected by any hiss, pops, hum, or crackle on the track. Dialogue comes though with precision in this mix which is quite typical of its era of filmmaking.
Special Features
4/5
The audio commentary is by Michael Wood who has written a book on Belle de Jour. It’s a decent distillation of fact and opinion about the film. Especially helpful are the notations of scenes from the original novel by Joseph Kessel and those which were inventions of the screenwriters.
Unless otherwise noted, the video featurettes are presented in 1080p.
“That Obscure Source of Desire” is an 18 ¼-minute interview with feminist film scholars Linda Williams and Susie Bright in which they discuss female masochism on its own terms as well as how it's filtered through this movie.
A 2011 interview with co-screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere examines his working relationship with Bunuel and his interpretation of the film's fantasy sequences as well as information about some of his previous film scripts. It runs 10 ¼ minutes.
A 7 ¼-minute 1966 excerpt from the television series Cinéma features writer Jean-Claude Carriere and star Catherine Deneuve discussing aspects of the movie shot during the film's production. This is presented in 1080i.
Three trailers are presented. The original French trailer in 1080p runs for 2 ¾ minutes. The two U.S. trailers, one original and one for the re-release, run 1 ¾ and 1 ¼ minutes respectively. Both are in 1080i.
The enclosed 29-page booklet contains cast and crew lists, a series of stills from the movie, critic Melissa Anderson’s celebration of the film, and comments by Luis Bunuel from a series of interviews with him conducted in the late 1970s.
The Criterion Blu-rays include a maneuvering tool called “Timeline” which can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.
In Conclusion
4.5/5 (not an average)
One of the great French films of the 1960s, Belle de Jour is a masterful blend of fantasy and reality espousing a story which captures one’s attention through its bold, inscrutable storytelling and outstanding performances. The Blu-ray features a superb picture and a nice selection of helpful bonus features which expand the film’s meanings. Highly recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
