4. Belle de Jour (1967)
Spanish master of the surreal and commentator on the lives of the bourgeoisie, Luis Bunuel, directs this kinky little number starring Catherine Deneuve as a bored Parisian housewife who whiles away the mind numbing afternoons as a part time prostitute. Severine (Deneuve) is totally frigid towards her hubby Pierre (Michel Piccoli) but he accepts this. Instead she has wild fantasies of bondage and domination and sadomasochism. By chance, she ends up in a high class brothel run by Madame Anais who christens her 'Belle de Jour' - Beauty of the Day. Belle works in the brothel from 2-5pm when hubby is at work. The physical relationship with him improves. Belle rather stupidly gets involved with a young gangster called Marcel. He supplies her with plenty of thrills but is domineering and jealous. Belle leaves the brothel with the approval of Madame Anais. Marcel shoots her husband but is later apprehended by the police and shot to death himself. Her husband is left in a wheelchair and Belle has to care for him. You can't have your cake and eat it folks! There is a lot of film studies goodness that you could get out of this film. I am not a trained film reader so I can't really go into detail, I am just a sordid pervert looking for a bit of kinkiness. But I can offer up some observations. Catherine Deneuve is at her beautiful blond, most chilly ice queen greatest in this film. Her emotions are a tough nut to crack as we are bombarded by her fantasies, memories and imaginations - was she abused as a child? The film is a lot more surreal than a lot of Bunuel's output. I could follow the savage social satire of The Exterminating Angel but Belle's confusion of reality and fantasy left me flabbergasted. Every time you watch this film, you get something different out of it - a new interpretation. However with its bordello scenes and Deneuve's sexual fantasies, it remains an erotic masterpiece and should titillate viewers who especially enjoy films with themes of BDSM.