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BELLE TOUJOURS Send This Review to a Friend
One of the more sophisticated works shown at the 2006 New York Film Festival was “Belle Toujours,” directed by the impressive 98-year-old Manoel de Olivera, who still knows how to make a classy film. It is now getting a commercial release. Remember Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour”? Olivera has come up with a fascinating follow-up, which looks at key characters of the former film 38 years later.
Michel Piccoli reprises Husson, the role he played in the original, and this time, instead of Catherine Deneuve, the always intriguing actress Bulle Ogier plays the role of Séverine, who had in a quest for eroticism gone to spend afternoons working in a Parisian brothel. When they meet again there are issues to explore, and Olivera directs in high style.
The film has a tense mood that grows more and more intriguing as Husson runs into Séverine, who tries to get away and wants no part of the past. But he has a mystery to hold over her. What did he really tell her husband about her in the original film? Husson dangles the prospect of his revealing that secret, and that entices her to a private dinner in his hotel.
The mischievous Olivera has Husson give Séverine a black box reminiscent of the one in a brothel scene in the first film. We never knew what erotic content was in the box—a typical Buñuel ploy—and one wonders whether it will be revealed this time. Husson, however, is still devious, as Séverine learns.
The film is directed in a low-key manner, with lots of glances and pauses. Does one have to have seen the first film to appreciate this riff on it? Not necessarily. This film takes on more meaning if one knows the Buñuel classic, but Olivera delivers a new tale that also can be taken on its own, and it is enjoyable watching the sparring of these two fine performers who have such an impressive film history. A New Yorker Films release.
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