Belle De Jour

Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, 5 Sep; Event Cinemas George Street, 6 Sep

This September, the Alliance Francaise Classic Film Festival arrives to celebrate the best in vintage French cinema. This year celebrates the work of French icon Catherine Deneuve, showcasing six of her films from the past 50 years. The 1967 classic, Belle De Jour is one of them.

The film finds Séverine (Catherine Deneuve), a married woman who has difficulties being intimate with her husband Pierre (Jean Sorel), having vivid dreams of sexual fantasy. She soon decides to become a prostitute under the name 'Belle De Jour', which helps to fill the void in her life yet builds other grave challenges.

The film was directed by Luis Buñuel, famed for his creative vision, well remembered elsewhere in works like 1929's Un Chien Andalou with Salvador Dali. Four decades later he created something that was bold and confronting for the time, and remains so today. His seamless approach to both the film reality and the surreal dream sequences is a particular marvel.

Catherine Deneuve is absolutely hypnotic. Her beauty and sense of style is timeless. However, she is more than this, an excellent actor with the ability to convey so much with merely her eyes or a look. A great example to why she is treasured. Belle De Jour is classic French cinema and shouldn't be missed on the big screen.