For Film Students and Film Lovers: Belle De Jour

Belle de Jour is a surreal psychological drama that explores repression, desire, fantasy, and identity.
At its core, it tells the story of Séverine, a beautiful bourgeois housewife who lives a seemingly perfect life, but secretly harbors masochistic sexual fantasies.
Buñuel — the master of surrealism — doesn’t just tell her story. He blurs the lines between reality and imagination, shame and liberation, love and cruelty.

The result is a haunting, dreamlike meditation on the secret life of desire.

🧠 Themes:

1. Sexual Repression vs. Fantasy:

Séverine is cold and distant with her husband, Pierre, despite loving him.
Her real sexual energy is locked away — channeled into violent fantasies of domination and humiliation.

In Buñuel’s world, the “good wife” and “desiring woman” are portrayed as two split selves — society refuses to allow them to coexist.
Working at the brothel allows Séverine to live out fantasies she can’t reconcile with her daytime identity.

Key idea: