Luis Buñuel: Belle de Jour

Director - Luis Buñuel
Writers - Luis Buñuel (adaptation) and Joseph Kessel (novel)

• Catherine Deneuve as Séverine Serizy, alias Belle de Jour
• Jean Sorel as Pierre Serizy
• Michel Piccoli as Henri Husson
• Geneviève Page as Madame Anaïs
• Pierre Clémenti as Marcel
• Georges Marchal as Duke
• Françoise Fabian as Charlotte
• Macha Méril as Renée
• Marguerite Muni as Pallas
• Maria Latour as Mathilde

What is the real reason to go to a prostitute? The sex is the last reason one goes to see one. One goes to avoid responsibilities of a normal relationship, to escape into a fantasy world, to become something else. One can use aggression and say anything to her without recourse or second thought. There are no apologies, no compromise and no boundaries. One can exercise his most most unusual fetishes. One doesn't have to show intimacy or warmth. One doesn't ned to be anything other than a form of payment. He is the money and she is the drug. The drug is not sex, the drug is the fantasy of importance to satisfy one's ego and pride. Most importantly is the ability to get something without dealing with it and its after effects. The sex is irrelevant and useless - it's just the fantasy that matters, the escape. One can forget about the other once the act is finished.


Belle de Jour begins on the countryside with a horse and carriage riding through. The two are husband and wife Severine and Pierre. He tells her, "Can I tell you a secret, Severine?" I love you more each day." He tells her she feels this coldness from her and she backs off. He tells her he cares about her but she says, "What good is your care?" She apologizes. Pierre stops the carriage and tells her to get out. The carriage riders tell her to shut up and tie her up. Pierre rips her clothes off while the carriage riders whip her. Pierre then says they can have sex with her. She wakes up from her daydream escaping from her bored marriage to have her husband ask, "What are you thinking?" She tells him she dream of being in a horse and carriage. They exchange, "I love you's" and sleep in different beds.

We see another couple who is bored. The husband's name is Henri Husson, her name is Renee. They exchange pleasantries. Henri Husson notices two beautiful women and says, "Look at that. Two beautiful sights." Pierre replies, "Why do you say that? Do you know them? Is that all you are interested in?" Henri Husson says, "Yes everything else is useless. A lot of waste time." Renee tells Severine that Henriette is working at a whorehouse several times a week. Severine says that must be terrible. The taxi driver tells them things have changed and they aren't so bad like they used to be like that before the war.

Severine arrives at her house to find a dozen red roses waiting for her. She asks who sent them and the housekeeper says, "Husson." She accidentally breaks the vase of roses showing her disregard for romance anymore. She asks her husband, Pierre, if he went to whorehouses before he met her. He says not often. She is curious about them and ask if they still exist. He tells her now they are clandestine. She asks him what happens. He jokingly tells her,"You pick one girl, spend half an hour with her and are depressed the rest of the day."

She play tennis and encounters Husson again. She sees Henriette leaving. He tells her most women who are working girls do it for the money. She says she doesn't understand and is wrestling with her own feelings concerning this profession. Husson says he goes often and glamorizes the place as a sort of place of desires. He tells her one that is near the opera called Madame Anois. She goes to the address curious and sees a woman who is most likely a working girl go into the building. Severine is scared and leaves.

She goes to the park and watches some kids play to try to return some purity to herself. It is autumn and the leaves have fallen dead around her much like the way she feels. She has everything in her life - money, friends and a stable husband but is bored and emotionally comatose. She visits the brothel and talks to Madame Anais. She gets immediately to business and tells Severine she will split the money half and half. Severine tells her she can only work two to five fearing her husband will find out. She goes to his hospital where he works as a doctor and offers lunch for him to keep the appearance of a normal wife intact.

She meets Madame Anois again and tells Severine she must be polite and cheerful. She has to enjoy her work. Madame Anois tells her if she likes the name "Belle de Jour" which Severine says it's okay. She sees the first client with two girls and cannot believe the situation she has put herself in. The client funnily makes a toast with champagne and says, "To the person I care most about! Me!" Severine cannot warm up to the touch of her first client. Severine is already cold to the touch to begin with and prostitution certainly won't help.

She goes home to take a thorough shower, making herself presentable to her husband. She burns her underwear and bra out of shame. She sleeps and finds herself in another fantasy. Pierre eats soup with Henri Husson. Pierre asks if the bulls behind him have names. Husson says one bull's name is expiation and another is remorse. They put their heads down in shame - particularly Husson who introduced Severine to her new career. Next Severine is tied up and Husson berates her calling her a bitch and a slut. Husson throws mud on her while Pierre watches. She wears white showing Pierre's vision of her purity while wanting to sexually corrupt her.

Severine goes back to work for Madame Anais. Severine/Belle de Jour meets a professor who gets into character which confuses Severine. Madame Anais shows her a peephole so Severine can learn. Charlotte performs the role that the Professor looks for. They role-play him being the incompetent servant, her being the angry boss. This turns him on. Every person's fantasy however strange is unique to them. Severine/Belle de Jour is shocked and disgusted at the degradation that turns this client on. She doesn't have to understand it but her character she plays does.

Severine, now Belle de Jour, meets a man who she warms up to and begins to loosen up. After she performs and lies in bed she seems to have finally enjoyed herself. She meets a client, the Duke, at a cafe and rightfully assumes her new identity, Belle de Jour. He is high class which makes Belle de Jour comfortable being a socialite. He invites her to his house for a ceremony that is important to him. His servant presents her with black clothes. The Duke films her as she pretends to be dead in a coffin. He brings her flowers to relive seeing his wife again. The man uses her as a vessel to communicate his feelings for his dead wife. It is the only way to express love to someone who is no longer there. His servant however throws her out into the rain once everything is finished.

When she sees her husband again she finally has some enthusiasm for sex after all the strange people she has met. Her desire for intimacy returns. Husson visits her at her home and tells her maid to tell him she is not there. In the next fantasy scene Husson and his wife Renee meet Pierre and Severine. Severine and Husson make a deal as if no one is there. He gives her an envelope and they have sex under the table. Renee tells Pierre Husson is giving her an envelope under the table. Pierre is unaware if what his wife is doing.

A gangster, Marcel, robs a man with his partner Hyppolite. They take off and leave. Hyppolyte visits Madame Anais. Marcel chooses Belle de Jour. He becomes immediately obsessed with her. He interrogates her with questions. She likes him and says she won't charge him. He cockily says, "Many girls would love to be in your place." She warms up to him because he only wants normal sex.

Marcel calls Anais to see if Belle de Jour is there. When she sees Marcel it is the first time she is happy in the film. He is immediately jealous knowing she has left for a few days. He should know you can never possess someone especially a prostitute. She confesses she loves her husband but still sleeps with him - it works well for her husband because her happier mood makes him think he is a result of it.

Husson comes to the brothel and sees Severine to her embarrassment and shock. He has found her out. She refuses to sleep with him being her husband's friend but is forced to by Madame Anais. She says she cannot resist what she does, she cannot live without it. He says he was attracted to her virtue. He says he can introduce some friends of his to her to humiliate her and chooses not to have sex with her. Never has she felt so naked now that a real threat is around her.

The next fantasy scene has two groups of carriages - among them is Pierre. They load guns, take paces back to back and draw fire on one another. Severine is tied up to a tree. Pierre rescues her and found she is shot. She needs her husband now more than ever to make things right. Severine chooses to leave her job. Marcel goes to Severine's house making her angry. He says he wants to see her again which she says is impossible. He say he expects to see her in three days at a hotel.

Marcel kills Hyppolite and makes a run for it. Marcel is shot and taken to the hospital. The doctor tells Severine he is in a coma. She goes back home to assume the role of the housewife again after Pierre has an accident. He is now in a wheelchair and blind. He needs her now and she is the one trying to cheer him up.

Husson visits Severine and says he will tell Pierre everything about her. She waits outside while the worst is done. He cannot talk and is physically incapable to. He only cries. He comes alive again in her fantasy and they are happy again. She looks outside and sees a house and carriage.