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The world's oldest profession turns out to be a cure for the newlywed blues in Belle de Jour, a razor-sharp French-language satire from Spanish-born director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve plays the young married woman drawn irresistibly toward a secret life of prostitution, and both the actress and her character slip easily into the role, evoking the bored distraction of an unfulfilled young woman as she comes to grips with her more primal cravings. Buñuel plays to his own strong suit here: He exhibits undeniable mastery in portraying the tension between prim and proper surfaces and the powerful, irrational -- even perverse -- appetites that lurk beneath. But despite the sexy subject matter, Belle de Jour is far from steamy; rather, Buñuel's sensibility remains typically dry and detached. Moments of the director's signature surreal fantasy are worked into the story nicely, but when compared to a film like The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, the satire of Belle de Jour is far more restrained, the film's brilliantly enigmatic ending notwithstanding. The result is a marvelously adroit comedy of manners that is one of Buñuel's best works. Gregory Baird

All Movie Guide

Belle de Jour dramatizes the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favorite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve stars as a wealthy but bored newlywed, eager to taste life to the fullest. She seemingly gets her wish early in the film when she is kidnapped, tied to a tree, and gang-raped. It turns out that this is only a daydream, but her subsequent visits to a neighboring brothel, where she offers her services, certainly seem to be real. This illusion/reality dichotomy extends to the final scenes, in which we are offered two possible endings. Thanks to a question of copyright and ownership, Belle de Jour disappeared from view shortly after its 1967 release, not even resurfacing on videotape. When it was reissued theatrically in 1994, many critics placed the perplexing but mesmerizing film on their lists of that year's best films. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 786936169881
• Source: MIRAMAX
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Vistavision (1.66:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital, monaural
• Language: Français, English
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:42:00
• Sales Rank: 2,333

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