belle de jour (1967)

belle de jour

i thought i had seen the Luis Buñuel classic, but when i saw it was on Hulu Plus the other day and watched it i realized i’d only seen photos of it and clips.

it’s a fascinating film starring the ridiculously beautiful Catherine Deneuve as a woman who is unfulfilled sexually in her marriage SO DECIDES TO BE A HOOKER.

or does she? the film does things that in the College of Creative Studies they taught us never to do: explain away everything as a dream.

there are scenes that happen and we realize they were just fantasies. and as the film moves along we never know whats real and whats a dream. even until the end.

Bunuel said even he didnt know what was real.

is that art or an easy way out?

we at school were taught that its the wrong path. that it’s lazy to work that way. that you should know and at some point your audience should know otherwise you’re just playing with their head for no good cause.

in the end i couldnt keep my eyes off Deneuve and i was glued to every step in her walk through being a prostitute because it was super interesting.

but im glad film didnt follow this path.

three stars

one of my new years resolutions is that every week imma see a classic movie i aint never seen before, last week was love in the afternoon and before that it was imitation of life.

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