Stars:
Catherine Deneuve,
Jean Sorel,
Genevieve Page,
Michel Piccoli,
Jeanne Moreau,
Georges Geret,
Delphine Seyrig,
Laurent Terzieff
Director:
Luis Bunuel
Summary: In 'Belle De Jour' Severine is married to a French doctor. She is unable to deal with his sexual advances so seeks work in a brothel. Based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. 'Diary Of A Chambermaid' tells the story of a young French woman who takes a job as a chambermaid in Paris in the 1930s. Her employment is overshadowed by the murder of a little girl and a menacing gardener. In 'The Milky Way' two tramps put their faith to the test as they travel a long hard road to reach Compostello in Spain.
Contains three films from Luis Bunuel. BELLE DE JOUR, DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID and THE MILKY WAY (La Voie Lactee).
BELLE DE JOUR:
An exquisite tale of self-discovery and tragic passion, Luis Bunuel's 1967 BELLE DE JOUR is one of the crowning achievements of the director's brilliant career. Famous for giddily manipulating audiences in order to make his point, Bunuel boldly blurs the line between fantasy and reality once again. It is this gleeful mischievousness that makes BELLE DE JOUR such a classic. Catherine Deneuve's performance reaffirms her status as one of world cinema's most electrifying actresses. Based on Joseph Kessel's 1928 novel, the film follows a recently married French housewife, Severine (Deneuve), as she is overcome by a wash of uncontainable erotic passions. After a brutal gang rape turns out to be mere fantasy, Severine finds herself in a nearby brothel acting out a series of sexual acts. At night, she returns home to her loving husband, Pierre (Jean Sorel), who is unaware of the double life that she is leading.
DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID:
Bunuel became the second filmmaker, after Jean Renoir, to adapt Octave Mirbeau's novel about a social-climbing chambermaid (Jeanne Moreau), and the upper-class home in which she works. However, Bunuel has updated the book by a quarter of a century and veers from its words in order to stay true to its spirit. The story follows Celestine, who arrives at the Rabour-Monteil residence, where she encounters the family patriarch, a foot fetishist who cannot resist trying to seduce every maid; his resistant wife (who finds his "constant" demands for sex--twice a week--overwhelming); and, most important, Joseph, a fascistic and murderous man-servant who believes in maintaining France for the French... and who wants Celestine for his bride. A powerful, funny and politically prescient film, that speaks to the present day as much as of the time in which it was made.
THE MILKY WAY (La Voie Lactee):
Saints by the roadside, the Devil offering advice, the Marquis de Sade, nuns with crucifixion fetishes and the Virgin sitting in a tree. These are just some of the characters that two French tramps, Pierre and Jean, encounter on their pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle James in Santiago, Spain. But when they arrive at the Tomb they discover it's empty. In this blatant attack on Catholicism and religion in general, Bunuel manages to skewer all the major elements of the faith. At the same time he examines religion as a man-made concept--one that's responsible for wars, oppression and persecution. Controversial on its release, it nevertheless won the Interfilm Award at the Berlin Film Festival.