Criterion Collection Edition #593
Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in a bordello. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits.
Directed by Luis Buñuel • 1967 • France
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli
Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in a b...
This audio commentary, recorded in 2011, features Princeton professor Michael Wood, author of the BFI Film Classics book “Belle de jour.”
In this 2011 documentary, activist Susie Bright, author of “Big Sex, Little Death,” and UC Berkeley professor Linda Williams, author of “Screening Sex,” discuss BELLE DE JOUR’s representation of feminine sexuality and fantasy, and its themes of masochism, power, and desire, in terms of director L...
Screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière worked on several films with director Luis Buñuel, but none of their collaborations was a bigger success or more influential than BELLE DE JOUR. This interview with Carrière was conducted at his home in Paris in 2011.
This segment from the December 23, 1966, episode of “Cinéma” features interviews with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and actor Catherine Deneuve on the set of BELLE DE JOUR.
