This film brought me a question, which probably Bunuel will answer differently to what I think. Is prostitution an act of women will or is it a social phenomenon caused by misery and poverty? One may say that Mesalina was a prostitute while she was the emperor's wife in the ancient Rome, right, but exceptions of all rules always exist. Normally a woman being wealthy and not satisfied with her husband will either look for divorce or for somebody else as a permanent lover, i.e. what we know as adultery. The latter is far to be prostitution as such. Bunuel here presents a film plot of an exception. The so-called Belle de Jour became a kind of a modern and discreet Mesalina, she often had in her mind nightmare of acts of violence her husband may impose over her body, pure mentality of masochism, and one day she decided to test herself. Logic in her behaviour is not seen, nor with the end of the film. Technically the film is OK, it has good colors and the acting of Catherine Deneuve, Geneviève Page and other actors may be considered acceptable in all cases.
Review of Belle de Jour
