Belle de Jour (film)

Belle De Jour (film)

Belle de Jour (French: bɛl də ʒuʁ) is a 1967 French drama film directed by Luis Buñuel and starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, and Michel Piccoli. Based on the 1928 novel Belle de jour by Joseph Kessel, the film is about a young woman who decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute while her husband is at work. The title refers to belle-de-jour, the French name of the daylily (Hemerocallis), meaning "beauty of day", a flower that blooms only during the day. The same name is also used for the Dwarf Morning Glory). American director Martin Scorsese promoted a 2002 release of the film on DVD. In 2006 the Portuguese director, Manoel de Oliveira released Belle Toujours, imagining a future encounter between two of the central characters from the original film. In 2010, the film was ranked #56 in Empire magazine's list, The 100 Best Films of World Cinema. Belle de Jour won the Golden Lion and the Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1967. Many of Deneuve's costumes were designed by a then-little-known Yves St. Laurent.