Belle de Jour – The Criterion Collection #593 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

January 18, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“Belle de Jour” is just one of the cinema masterpiece in Luis Buñuel’s oeuvre, but it’s a magnificent film that showcased feminine sexuality in a way not seen in cinema at that moment of time. For those who love surrealism in cinema, especially coming from Luis Buñuel, they will find “Belle de Jour” to be a wonderful experience. For the cineaste, this film is recommended

TITLE: Belle de Jour – The Criterion Collection #593

FILM RELEASE DATE: 1967

DURATION: 100 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Color, French Monaural with English Subtitles

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: January 17, 2012

Directed by Luis Bunuel

Based on the novel by Joseph Kessel

Adaptation and Dialogue by Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere

Produced by Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim

Cinematography by Sacha Vierny

Edited by Louisette Hautecoeur

Production Design by Robert Clavel

Set Decoration by Robert Clavel

Costume Design by Helene Nourry

Starring:

Catherine Deneuve as Severine Serizy/Belle de Jour

Jean Sorel as Pierre Serizy

Michel Piccoli as Henri Husson

Genevieve Page as Madame Anais

Pierre Clementi as Marcel

Francoise Fabian as Charlotte

Macha Meril as Renee

Muni as Pallas

Maria Latour as Mathilde

Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in a bordello. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits.

Luis Buñuel, is often referred to as a filmmaker who is a master of surrealism. A filmmaker who is known for his dark humor and one who works best when given that creative freedom.

With a several films in his magnificent oeuvre, Buñuel is known for films such as “Viridiana”, “Phantom of Liberty”, “That Obscure Object of Desire”, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie”, “The Exterminating Angel” to name a few.

But in 1967, Buñuel would direct a French film “Belle de Jour” (which translated to “daylight beauty”) starring popular French actress “Catherine Deneuve”, who had won the hearts of audiences with the Jacques Demy film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” in 1964 and the Roman Polanski film “Repulsion” in 1965.

For this “Belle de Jour”, Buñuel (along with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere) would create a film that was very different from the 1928 novel by Joseph Kessel and for those who have worked with him and know of his work, he typically creates films that are far from the screenplay and often injects surrealism, so in this case… What is real and what is fantasy? That is for the viewer to interpret.

The film begins with Séverine Serizy (played by Catherine Deneuve) and her husband, a doctor named Pierre (played by Jean Sorel) riding a carriage and she talks to him in a cold manner. Immediately he has his riders stop the carriage and orders them to drag her out into the middle of nowhere, ties her up and has her hanging from a tree. He removes her bra straps. He orders his men to flog her and immediately tells one of his men to have his way with his wife.

But it’s all a dream and although Pierre doesn’t know what the complete dream is all about, he knows that she keeps having these dreams of her in the carriage. The truth is that Séverine is a masochist and she wants to be fulfilled sexually but is not sure how to communicate it with her clean cut and very kind husband.

While the two go on vacation, they meet with their friends, including a free spirit named Monsieur Husson (played by Michael Piccoli) who makes Séverine feel uncomfortable because he keeps looking at her. As she and her female friend go on a ride, the two start discussing prostitution and how one of the women from their tennis club is known to have a double life.

The matter of prostitution stays in her mind and for some reason, she is bothered by it and asks her husband if he has done anything with prostitutes and what the experience is like. He tells her that his experience with them was in the past and explains a bit about it. She is disgusted and no longer wants to hear anymore from him.

One day, while going to play some tennis, she sees Husson once again and he tries to kiss her on the neck which she refuses. He then mentions the name of a high-class brothel and immediately, she starts having ideas of working at the brothel.

We are then given a few images through various short scenes of Séverine when she was younger. From a bearded man trying to kiss her when she was a young girl, to not accepting communion in church and more.

As Séverine decides to go into the hostel, she meets with Madame Anais (played by Genevieve Page) and she tells the Madame that she can work only on the afternoon between 2-5 p.m. Madame Anais gives her the name “Belle de jour” (because she only works afternoons) and immediately, Séverine begins her career pleasuring wealthy men.

She eventually becomes entangled with Marcel (played by Pierre Clementi), a young gangster who is able to give her all the thrills and excitement that she has fantasized. But when he becomes too demanding and becomes jealous of her marriage to Pierre, Séverine’s life becomes complicated to the point where she now wants to quit the brothel.

Which leads Séverine on a downward spiral…or not? Because of the film’s ambiguities, which scenes from the film are reality and which are just fantasy?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Branded to Kill” is presented in 1:66:1 aspect ratio, color and audio is presented in French monaural with English subtitles. It’s important to note that with the 2011 release of “Belle de Jour”, for those wanting the best picture and audio quality, you may want to opt for the Blu-ray because it is in HD.

For those who owned the old 2002 DVD release, the Criterion Collection 2011 DVD release is so much better than the original in terms of picture quality and content. While the Blu-ray release will definitely feature sharper and vibrant colors, the DVD still looks good when compared to the old 2002 DVD release. If anything, the picture quality looks fantastic for a film that is 45-years-old. Colors look very good but most importantly, there is no enhancement of DNR, and for the most part, picture quality looks very good. There is one scene that shows its age (as it did in the original 2002 Miramax DVD release) when Séverine is with Marcel and there is major nose. But that scene is fairly short. If anything, this is the best that “Belle de Jour” has looked on DVD.

According to the Criterion Collection, the new high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image System’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

As for the monaural soundtrack, the new release was remastered at 24-bit from a 35 mm print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

Audio-wise, dialogue was clear and I detected no problems or crackle. Doing tests of the old 2002 Miramax DVD release and the 2011 DVD release, there is a slight distinction of clarity in audio but for the most part, the difference is more apparent in the video.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Belle de Jour – The Criterion Collection #593″ comes with the following special features:

Audio Commentary – Featuring a wonderful and insightful audio commentary by Princeton professor Michael Wood, author of BFI Films Classics Book “Belle de Jour”.
That Obscure Source of Desire – (18:08) A 2011 interview with activist Susie Bright (author of “Big Sex, Little Death”) and UC Berkeley professor Linda Williams (author of “Screening Sex”) discuss Belle de jour and the representation of feminine sexuality, themes of masochism and more.
Jean-Claude Carriere - (10:22) A 2011 interview with “Belle de jour” screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere on how he and Luis Buñuel came up with the screenplay.
Cinema – (7:16) An excerpt from “Cinema”, which aired on Dec. 23, 1966 featuring interviews with Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Claude Carriere.
Trailer – The original theatrical trailer (2:41), the original U.S. trailer (1:47) and the U.S. re-release trailer (1:07).

EXTRAS:

32-Page booklet – Featuring a new essay titled “Tough Love” by Melissa Anderson and “Buñuel on Belle de jour” (an exerpt from “Objects of Desire: Conversations with Luis Buñuel”. by Jose de la Colina and Tomas Perez Turrent.

Luis Buñuel’s exotic masterpiece receives the Criterion Collection treatment and what a wonderful release it turned out to be!

Before discussing the film, what made “Belle de Jour” a film that attracted my attention was the fact that Luis Buñuel directed it. For anyone who has seen any of his wonderful films and have gravitated towards his work because of its surrealism, for me…I’m literally grinning while watching his films because he does not follow traditional filmmaking, nor does he want to compartmentalized a storyline and make it simple for the viewer. His films are notable because he does what he wants and while many question his choices of “why?”, his answer is typically “why not?” and if one had a different viewpoint of his filmmaking, he would answer with a “if you directed the film with what you want to see…then go for it!”.

He’s a filmmaker and a creative artist, and like an artist such as Salvador Dali, you view his films and enjoy it for what it is. There are too many critics who find Buñuel’s work so maddening because it’s not clear-cut but why should his work be banal? That is what I love about Buñuel films and make me slightly biased towards a more positive viewpoint because his films are non-traditional and quite enjoyable.

Which leads us to “Belle de Jour”. Sure, this is not the clearcut storyline that Joseph Kessel wrote in his 1928 novel about a woman named Séverine Sérizy who was molested at a young age and lives a double life of being a normal housewife and becoming a prostitute for a few hours in order to fulfill her sexual desires.

In the film adaptation, Buñuel does keep the theme, we are aware that Séverine Sérizy was molested and because of that, she has harbored sexual feelings of masochism that she is too afraid to ask her husband to do to her. But while Kessel’s book is quite straightforward of one woman pursuing that lifestyle and living a life of unhappily ever after, Buñuel shows us reality and shows us fantasy and at the end, both reality and fantasy come together as one.

One must remember that in 1967, this film was rather shocking to many people. For one, unlike today where one can psychoanalyze a person who has been molested and growing up to have some major issues, back then, it was an issue that was rarely discussed. And also, rarely do you find a film that focuses on a protagonist who has masochistic desires.

The film begins with Séverine Sérizy being led out to a car by her husband Pierre and is tied up, her bra removed and is whipped and is kissed by another man. A fantasy.

But then there are many other fantasies with Séverine going under the table with Monsieur Husson and while the table is shaking, her husband and friend are carrying on with a conversation. To being with a man who is interested in possibly using an insect and using it for some sexual pleasure to another man who has an unusual sexual desire by having Séverine in a coffin and even a scene where she is kissed by her madame.

And each fantasy, we see her sexual desire escalating and also introducing things that may be a bit bizarre but she she enjoys it until things become dangerous. And the way it is presented by Luis Buñuel is not clear-cut like the book but done with a great touch of surrealism with amazing efficacy.

And of course, Catherine Deneuve is absolutely wonderful in her performance. Bringing this calm but also sexually dangerous side to her character which was quite intriguing as she has considered herself as an introverted person, so to see her playing this role, I was quite amazed the first time I watched it and if you enjoyed this film, you definitely want to watch her next collaboration with Luis Buñuel in “Tristana” (and equally entertaining is reading “The Private Diaries of Catherine Deneauve” which she wrote about her daily experience on working on that film).

What I enjoyed about this Criterion Collection is how this film has meant a lot people and also for Luis Buñuel, to see how people have interpreted his film from the insightful audio commentary by Princeton professor Michael Wood and the focus on the feminine sexuality and impact of the film as discussed by activist Susie Bright and UC Berkeley professor Linda Williams. And also, the addition of the 2011 interview with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere and also the classic interviews with him and Catherine Deneuve made this release much more entertaining than the 2002 Miramax DVD release.

If anything, it is quite wonderful to finally see this film receiving the Criterion Collection treatment and while I am reviewing the DVD, if you have a Blu-ray player, I definitely recommend going for the HD version as it is the best version out there of this film with wonderful picture quality. Otherwise if you don’t own a Blu-ray player, this 2011 DVD release is still very good, much clearer, sharper than the 2002 DVD release and it looks fantastic for a 45-year-old film.

Overall, “Belle de Jour” is just one of the cinema masterpiece in Luis Buñuel’s oeuvre, but it’s a magnificent film that showcased feminine sexuality in a way not seen in cinema at that moment of time. For those who love surrealism in cinema, especially coming from Luis Buñuel, they will find “Belle de Jour” to be a wonderful experience.

For the cineaste, this film is recommended!

Simon of the Desert – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #460 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

November 21, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Definitely one of Luis Buñuel’s most interesting and hilarious work (that was never fully completed). Overall, this DVD is definitely a solid release which includes along with the film, a near-hour documentary, interview with actress Silvia Pinal and an awesome essay/interview booklet. In addition, “Simon of the Desert” is also one of Criterion’s cheaper DVD releases. Definitely recommended!

TITLE: Simon of the Desert – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #460

DURATION: 45 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Monaural in Spanish with English subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: The Criterion Collection/Janus Films

RELEASED: 2008

Directed by Luis Buñuel

Written by Julio Alejandro and Luis Buñuel

Produced by Gustavo Alatriste

Music by Raul Lavista

Cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa

Edited by Carlos Savage

Starring:

Claudio Brook as Simon

Silvia Pinal as Satan

Enrqiue Alvarez Felix as Brother Matias

Hortensia Santoveña as The Motther

Luis Aceves Castañeda as Priest

Jesus Fernandez as Dwarf Goatherd

Simon of the Desert is Luis Buñuel’s wicked and wild take on the life of devoted ascetic Saint Simeon Stylites, who waited atop a pillar surrounded by a barren landscape for six years, six months, and six days, in order to prove his devotion to God. Yet the devil, in the figure of the beautiful Silvia Pinal, huddles below, trying to tempt him down. A skeptic’s vision of human conviction, Buñuel’s short and sweet satire is one of the master filmmaker’s most renowned works of surrealism.

Luis Buñuel, the world renown Spanish director who had a successful career in Mexico and France is known for films such as “Belle de Jour”, “Viridiana”, “Nazarin”, “El angel exterminador” (a.k.a. The Exterminating Angel) to name a few. But what Buñuel is known for was his quickness of his filmmaking and ability to transcend from working in Mexican and French cinema, but also his dark humor and the fact that he is an atheist and is critical of religion.

One film that he uses religion to showcase his critical view to religion was the 1965 film “Simon of the Desert” which was the third film starring actress Silvia Pinal (“Viridiana”, “The Exterminating Angel”) and Claudio Brook. And produced by Gustavo Alatriste, husband of Pinal.

“Simon of the Desert” is a dark comedy parodying Saint Simeon Stylites, the Christian ascetic saint who lived for 37 years on top of a platform in Syria.

In the film, Simon (played by Claudio Brook) has been living on top of the platform for six years, six months and six days. Simon prays for God to spiritually purify him and it has become his mission to stay on top of the platform giving his life to God. A congregation of priests are proud of what Simon had accomplish that they have built him a larger platform for which he can live, while supplying him with water and lettuce (which he prefers to only eat). Simon’s mother has also taken refuge near the base of the platform in order to be there for her son.

But Satan (played by Silvia Pinal) will do whatever he can to prevent Simon from accomplishing his mission and making him come down the platform. The devil takes the disguise of a woman who sings and tries to use her body as a way to get him to stop. The devil also uses a disguise of Jesus Christ in order to get him to stop. The devil also possesses one of the priests in order to make Simon look like a fraud in front of the other priests.

But who will win in the end…Simon or Satan?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Simon in the Desert” is presented in black and white (1:33:1 aspect ratio). According to The Criterion Collection, the picture has been slightly windowboxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors. Picture quality is actually very good for a film created back in 1965. Blacks are nice and deep and Criterion gave the film a solid high-definition transfer. The transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm duplicate negative and thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration system.

I personally didn’t see any major artifacting and the scratches and dust are so minimal that Criterion did a fantastic job on the video transfer.

As for the audio, audio is presented in mono. According to Criterion, the soundtrack was mastered at 24-Bit from the 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Pops, crackle, hiss and hum were reduced with an array of audio restoration techniques.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Simon of the Desert” comes with the following special features:

A Mexican Buñuel - (55:41) A 1997 documentary produced by Emilio Maillé. Maillé goes into detail of the life of Luis Buñuel as he lived in the United States and then moving to Mexico and eventually the filming of “Simon of the Desert” and a tribute made for him.
Silvia Pinal - (6:39) An interview with Silvia Pinal recorded in Mexico City in January 2006 exclusively for the Criterion Collection. The actress talks about her working relationship with Luis Buñuel and working on this film.
28-Page Booklet – Featuring an essay by Michael Wood titled “Damned if you do…” about “Simon in the Desert” plus an interview excerpted from “Objects of Desire: Conversations with Luis Buñuel, a compilation of interviews conducted by film critics Jose de la Colina and Tomas Perez between 1975 and 1977.

“Simon of the Desert” is a film that features very good cinematography. May it be from a far distance as you can see Simon standing on the high platform (yes, they actually created an actual stone platform that is still in the field today and can’t be removed because it’s so heavy) or closeups of the character’s face. Criterion’s transfer is quite solid as you see the detail of Simon’s hair waving in the distance and Buñuel was good in capturing just a little of Pinal’s sexiness and not overdoing the temptation bit.

I have no doubt that this film was probably considered blasphemous at the time, in fact, Buñuel’s first film with Pinal “Viridiana” riled up the Vatican that he had to seek exile in Mexico. But that was part of Buñuel’s perspective on religion. He was an atheist at heart and took liberty of poking fun on Christianity. Why would a man give up his whole life for a God that is really not doing anything? I suppose Buñuel looked at Simon’s worship as a waste of time and a waste of life and if anything, Buñuel was known to have debates and conversations with priests who were his friends on the subject of religion.

If there was one scene that stays in my mind, it’s a scene where a family begs for Simon to ask God for his help. A man who was caught stealing had his hands cut off and the family begs forgiveness and sure enough, after prayer, the man receives his hands. And the first thing the man does after leaving is swatting his kid right in the head.

Aside from Buñuel’s athiest view on religion, probably the most jarring part about the the film is that it would never be fully completed as producer Alatriste was unable to financially support the making of the film as the golden age of Mexico has come to its end. So, in order to have some finality with the film, Buñuel came up with an ending which may or may not leave viewers satisfied but both Buñuel and Pinal have been vocal that they wished the film could have been fully completed and that the ending would have been different.

So, at 45-minutes long, “Simon of the Desert” is a low-tier Criterion release of an uncompleted film. But do not let that deter you from this purchase because the film is still quite entertaining and I actually found it quite fascinating, even to its ending scene that was a bit awkward but at the same time, it was very 1965 and definitely an interesting moment of the film that just sticks out. I found it to be quite fun although I really would love to know how Buñuel would have ended the film?

Overall, this is a solid release and for the lower-tier Criterion titles, this one comes with worthy special features and insightful and informative booklet. You really get a bang for your buck as the special features and the accompanying 28-page booklet along with the film is well worth the price (especially when this DVD is on sale which I picked up for under $13).

If you are a Luis Buñuel fan or wanting a Criterion title that is low in price but yet big enough in content, “Simon of the Desert” is definitely worth having in your Criterion collection. Recommended!