Belle de Jour - Beauty of the day

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Movie
German title Belle de Jour - Beauty of the day
Original title Belle de jour
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1967
length 101 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Luis Buñuel
script Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière
production Henri Baum , Raymond Hakim and Robert Hakim
music no
camera Sacha Vierny
cut Louisette Hautecoeur
occupation
synchronization

Belle de Jour is a French fictional film by Spanish director Luis Buñuel from 1967 with Catherine Deneuve in the lead role. The film is based on the novel of the same name by the French writer Joseph Kessel from 1928.

action

Séverine Sérizy is a beautiful young Parisian woman who is married to the doctor Pierre. Séverine loves her husband, but it is not possible for her to get intimate with him. Instead, she indulges in erotic daydreams in which BDSM and especially bondage and humiliation play a crucial role. During a conversation with a friend, she learns that another acquaintance works in a brothel . Séverine is both repulsed and fascinated. Henri, an acquaintance of Pierre, gives her the address of the brothel. Since she cannot realize her dreams with her husband, she begins, albeit very hesitantly, to work in the afternoons in Madame Anaïs's establishment under the name “Belle de jour” (“Beauty of the day”). In the evening she returns to her husband, from whom she conceals her double life.

One of her customers, the young criminal Marcel, falls in love with her. Difficulties arise when Pierre takes her on a vacation by the sea for a few days and therefore cannot appear in the brothel. Marcel, who is almost obsessed by her, makes her a violent scene on her return. When Séverine is discovered by Henri in the establishment, a dialogue ensues that makes it clear that the secret activity gives her a fulfillment that she cannot find in her marriage. After Henri's announcement that she would be sending her male acquaintances as clients in the future , she was frightened to give up her job, but then returned. As a result, Marcel learns her address and her true identity as part of his research. Surprisingly, he confronts her in her apartment. Since, in his opinion, only her marriage to Pierre prevents her from going with him, he finally shoots her husband down in front of the house. Marcel is shot by a police officer while he is on the run. Pierre survives as a seriously injured person in a wheelchair.

After a while, Henri visits the couple who have since settled down with the invalidity. He announces to Séverine in private that he will clarify her secret to Pierre. She leaves the two men alone in the drawing room, and what happens there remains unclear; however, tears flow down Pierre's cheeks when Séverine comes back to him.

The immediately following final scene shows the couple alone in the salon when Pierre suddenly gets out of the wheelchair like a healthy person. It is not clear whether this is again one of Séverine's daydreams, or rather whether her entire work with Madame Anaïs and the resulting events belong to her fantasy world.

background

  • The costumes were created by the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent .
  • In the rape scene, Séverine's dress was fitted with Velcro to create a more violent tone the moment it was torn away.
  • Most subtitled versions of the film (not the original French version) use italic letters to help the audience distinguish Séverine's fantasies from what actually happened.
  • The scene in which Séverine lies in a coffin at the request of the client has been shortened by the censors. A black mass was originally held later .
  • According to Buñuel's scholarship holder Julie Jones, the director himself did not know what the end of the film really meant.
  • Luis Buñuel makes a cameo . When the Count gets out of his carriage, Buñuel is sitting in front of the café among the guests.
  • The box that a Japanese suitor brings with him and from which there is a buzz is a MacGuffin , i. H. the viewer should imagine what is inside and how it works as an aphrodisiac . The association of a Spanish fly is obvious. Séverine does not seem to have disapproved of the application that is not shown.
  • The film was released in theaters in the Federal Republic of Germany on September 15, 1967, and it was first broadcast on television on March 9, 1975 on ARD at 9:30 p.m.
  • In 2017, the age rating in Germany was reduced from 18 to 16.

Reviews

“A highly artificial structure of seamlessly mixed elements of reality and imagination, the traumatic dimension of which is reinforced with surreal pictorial moments. Another attempt by Buñuel on the pathological findings of civil society, love and marriage. "

- Lexicon of international film (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997

“The film belongs to Buñuel's late work and has all of these typical characteristics. The idea of ​​a one-dimensional narrative level is broken again and again and Séverine's dreams and reality are interwoven into a continuum from the start. The ironic-poetic analyzes of bourgeois society that are usual for the director can also be found, as so often in the center of the action. "

- Critic.de

“Despite the delicate subject, a tastefully staged film […], which lacks the strength to give a real 'push'. Interest is aroused by the seamless juxtaposition of dreamlike and realistic sequences, with reality containing no less fantastic elements than dreams. Only possible for adults! "

- Protestant film observer

“Why is a beautiful woman from a good family who let strange men mistreat, humiliate and sexually abuse her? There are only two short scenes in the film that solve the mystery. In the 14th minute of the film, you see a girl, little Séverine, who is kissed by an adult, his hand reaching under her dress for a few seconds. The second scene: Shortly before Séverine knocks on the door of the brothel for the first time, she gets a flash-back: She sees little Séverine who refuses the host in the church. "

- AS : Trauma and Prostitution, Karlsruhe, January 14, 2018

Awards

nominated for best leading actress: Catherine Deneuve
Best European film
Prix ​​Méliès - Best Film (together with Mouchette by Robert Bresson )

Remarks

  • The film Belle Toujours by director Manoel de Oliveira was released in 2006 as a homage to Buñuel and his co-author Jean-Claude Carrière . As in Belle de Jour , Piccoli plays the role of Henri Husson. He meets Séverine ( Bulle Ogier ) again after 38 years at a concert.
  • A prostitute who works during the day (in contrast to the “Belle de nuit”) is also referred to in French as “Belle de jour” .
  • The tri-colored wind , which often occurs along roadsides in the Mediterranean region, is also called "Belle de jour" in southern France. The funnel flower has already completely faded after one day.
  • On the album Grace for Drowning by Steven Wilson is a same name, inspired by the dream sequences in the film instrumental piece.

synchronization

role actor Voice actor
Séverine Sérizy Catherine Deneuve Evelyn Gressmann
Pierre Sérizy Jean Sorel Joachim Ansorge
Henri Husson Michel Piccoli Gert Günther Hoffmann
Marcel Pierre Clémenti Christian Brückner
Charlotte Françoise Fabian Renate Küster
Pallas Marguerite Muni Tilly Lauenstein
Monsieur Adolphe Francis Blanche Fritz Tillmann
duke Georges Marchal Curt Ackermann
Hyppolite Francisco Rabal Arnold Marquis

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of release for Belle de Jour - Beauty of the day . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 37498-c / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ^ Filmdienst.de and Spiegel.de .
  3. ↑ See critic.de
  4. ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband Munich, Review No. 408/1967
  5. ↑ Trauma and Prostitution Contribution by Dr. Ingeborg Kraus - Karlsruhe 2018
  6. ↑ Belle de Jour - Beauty of the day. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on March 21, 2020 .