It took a long time for the 1928 French novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel to be made into a film and, when the French language adaptation was produced, it came from Luis Bru\u00f1uel, a Spanish filmmaker known for his surrealist work. But then this unusual story is told in a dream-like fashion from the point of view of sexually repressed, middle class housewife S\u00e9verine, played by the doll-like beauty that was Catherine Deneuve, who becomes a daytime prostitute in an effort to make herself available eventually to her doctor husband Pierre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like so many great films, the opening and closing scenes are especially memorable. The fantasy sequences are striking. The film may be all about sex, but sex is never shown and neither is nudity. In this engrossing but enigmatic film, the cause of S\u00e9verine’s repression is never explained and neither are her masochistic sexual fantasies. Yet we never doubt her good intentions: she loves Pierre and wants to please him. However, her strategy is inherently risky and rightly the viewer fears for how it will work out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice Film Festival. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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