THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 31, 1995 TAG: 9507290049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
She is called Belle de Jour at one of the higher-class brothels in Paris.
Over a period of three decades, the movie which bears her name has become a high mark of erotic cinema. After being withdrawn from distribution by its producers 25 years ago, the restored version is teasing new audiences in 1995.
Rarely does a film try to be poetic, perverse and hilarious at the same time. That is ``Belle de Jour.''
The stunning Catherine Deneuve, in one of her most enigmatic roles, stars as the lovely, blank-faced Severine, a woman who is married to a handsome, young and prosperous doctor (Jean Sorel). Yet, she pulls back from his tentative caresses.
She dreams of being sexually awoken, and humiliated, by coachmen and other lowly employees.
Eventually, she takes an afternoon job in one of Paris' most fasionable brothels. Here, she is challenged and humiliated by a variety of men but especially by the gangster-like Pierre Clementi (who has bad teeth but, nonetheless, a strange fascination).
As directed by legendary Spanish director Luis Bunuel, the film may be borderline-pornographic, but it has quite an illustrious and deserved reputation as a most chaste, and suppressed, brand of surrealistic mischief. Bunuel goes about his business in such a matter-of-fact way that the film is often hilarious. It is almost clear that he is putting us on, but we can't be quite sure.
In 1968, when the movie was a big hit at the Riverview Theater in Norfolk, it was perhaps more ``shocking'' than it is now. Restored by Martin Scorsese and Miramax Films, it opened last week in New York to surprising business.
An entertaining mystery, the film begins and ends with a carriage ride. Where is the carriage going? Is it, or anything else, the truth, a lie or a dream?
Bunuel uses Deneuve's beauty as an icy mask to hide passions she may, or may not, have. He refuses to use any music at all - simply church bells or other sound effects that would come from the city. He is playing a game of cat and mouse with the audience.
Genevieve Page is bewitching as the throaty, deep-voiced Madame Anais, owner and manager of the high-class brothel.
What appears at first to be a psychological study of a woman on the edge turns out to be more an examination of a woman at ease. Along the way, a great deal is said about hypocrisy and hidden passions.
Since hidden passions are hardly out of vogue, the film is not in the least dated. ``Belle Du Jour'' is likely to be a hit all over again. It's a major effort by the United Artist Theaters at Lynnhaven Mall to establish one of its screens as a haven for foreign-film fans. MEMO: Mal's rating: three stars
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
by CNB