Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Belle de jour" is a novel-based co-production between France and Italy that result in this (mostly) French-language film from 1967. This means it has its 50th anniversary this year and thanks to that, several theaters here in Germany (Berlin) decided to being the film back to the big screen. First of all, I want to say that I love this decision. I wish they could bring back many old films again to theaters as I believe it is an entirely different experience to see that film at a theater than to see it at home. Unless you're a millionaire and have your own theater room in your mansion. But for everybody who doesn't, it is a unique opportunity and looking at how packed the theater today was, I am sure that many will agree and that the argument that people would not watch old films on the big screen again is simply incorrect.Now, lets take a look at this one here. Let me say first that I have not read the novel by Joseph Kessel before seeing this one. I also have not seen the film before today's viewing, it was a first time watch. And I guess I enjoyed it. The director and writer was Luis Buñuel and he was already in his late 60s when he made this one, so you can certainly say that new ideas can come to life in old shells. Looking at how sexual and free-spirited the movie is, it is easy to say that Buñuel was way ahead of his time back in the 1960s when people were still prudes, at least when it comes to sexuality in films. The lead actress is Catherine Deneuve and while I am usually definitely more into brunettes and dark-haired women, I cannot deny that she was pretty attractive in here. However, they also certainly knew how to put her in the right position, for example when we see her in an expensive coat and the two other prostitutes next to hear wear nothing but underwear, even if she was one of them.Now I mentioned prostitutes already: Yep this is a movie that takes place mostly inside a brother during its 100 minutes running time. It is about a woman who is not satisfied sexually by her very kind very charming man, but she needs what you may want to call a strong hand to tame her somehow. Or a special place where she can fulfill her sexual desires. Oh my, this sounds like 50 Shades of Grey doesn't it. Not intentional. Anyway, the brother is certainly pretty exclusive as wealthy businessmen and doctors join the girls as "customers" who want to explore their forbidden desires too (masochism e.g.). But the protagonist has more of an interest in a career criminal and not a small-time thug, but a brutal gangster actually. It becomes a relationship with deadly consequences in the end. One of the more interesting aspects of this film is certainly how the line between reality and the central character's fantasies gets more and more blurry and at the very end when we see the injured man suddenly get out of his wheelchair as if it was nothing, there is basically a complete mix-up. I also quite liked the last shot back to the sound and images of the carriage because this was where it all began with her fantasies.Finally, I want to say that the film needed a little while to really get me interested, but finally it was a fairly decent viewing I would say. It certainly gets better the longer it goes. I would not consider it an epic as many do today (I still read a description about a newer film recently where it is called a modern "Belle de jour"), but it's for sure among the better films of the 1960s. I know they showed some restored version, but boy did it look modern. But not in a bad way as it did not take away any of the film's charm I am sure. So yeah if you like Deneuved and still haven't seen it (which sounds like a really unlikely possibility because it is one of her trademark films, then you really need to see this one, preferably on a big screen. But even if you aren't a big Deneuve fan (neither am I), it is still worth checking out and be it only to show theaters that you want to see old films on the big screen because next up may be one of your very favorites. Go for it. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

CallEmLike ICem Catherine Deneuve has a handsome doctor husband who loves her and likes whisking her away to nice spots for romantic getaways. He wants children with her. She responds with frigidness and, usually, turn-downs to his physical overtures.Then she decides the thing to do is start working as a prostitute at a whorehouse. While he's away working to make the money to support her idle luxury, she flops down on a mattress to sell to a series of fat, sweaty strangers the sexual favors she usually won't share with hubby at home.For his sake, it's unfortunate she neglects to mention this. He also could stand to know the name of a good lawyer. With a friend like her, he won't need many enemies.We see she was molested as a child by some elderly pervert. As an adult she fantasizes about being tied up, whipped, raped, and having animal dung flung into her face until half her person is covered in it. And you wondered why they never show this at women's self-esteem conferences.We do tend to guess she has issues, a side of her sexuality she hasn't come to grips with. Her prostituting herself, we speculate, is some exploration of it.Director Luis Bunuel seems mostly interested in manipulating the characters like marionettes to reach his pre-planned political agenda, showing them as empty-headed bourgeoisie marching to certain doom.Doom comes, not to her but to him. He pays a vicious price for her duplicitous back-stabbing. Unable to face what she's wrought, she descends into a world of fantasy, dreaming of him as he was, conveniently forgetting how much it bored her.While I did care about the characters and was drawn in by the tragedy, it also seemed an all-too-easy excuse to make it all about some dark sexual matter. For all her exploring, Denevue doesn't seem to gain much insight. I didn't either, except that movies like this tend to draw attention.Bunuel seems to hold his characters and society in contempt, while also not suggesting any better alternatives. Sexuality is almost always depicted as something either perverse or for sale in half-hour increments. The one character who seems to feel it's healthy - Sorel - winds up an invalid in a wheelchair. This anti-human strain was off-putting.Bunuel's hatred of the middle class seems endless, and is uninterrupted by the fact that he is one himself. He even appears in a cameo, drinking coffee in a cafe. Better he'd been the waiter, so audiences could have sent this all back to the kitchen and ordered up a little less misanthropy, a little more care about the characters.

Armand a special film. like each movie by Bunuel. same scene, same tricks, same spirit. different ingredients. and Catherine Deneuve in one of her memorable roles. a film about passion and desire. about search of happiness and clash between words. ironic, cold and out of reality's circle. and it is enough for discover an universe who has its rhythm, shadows and law. a film like a parable but that is not new fact for Bunuel. a film who seduce in strange manner because it is only a chain of questions. surrealism is basic answer but not the only. because it is an imitation of life in essential aspects. and a challenge. like each of Bunuel films.

Danny Blankenship Finally viewed the international classic "Belle De Jour" with legendary screen queen Catherine Deneuve and for a film of 1967 it was one of lust and erotic fantasy to it's best! The story has Deneuve as a bored young socialite rich housewife named Severine who has it all, but the problem is she can't get no sexual satisfaction with her husband a doctor. Her only escape is to daydream of odd and rough sex of being tied up and playing rough. So finally she decides to take up a job as a prostitute in a brothel house! And this new secret life has it's good fun moments, but it has it's negatives and real down parts. As love is found thru tragic means still the life of fantasy and erotic lust is not what it seems for Severine. Overall good erotic fantasy film that showcases how sexy daydreams can lead to love while paying a price.