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3 posts tagged catherine deneuve
International Poster Tour: BELLE DE JOUR (dir. Luis Buñuel) 1967
so Buñuel’s erotic masterpiece (harvey weinstein’s words, not mine) finally arrives in the Criterion Collection today, and not to spoil my review or anything, but if there’s one 2012 Criterion that you absolutely must own so far this year, it’s this one, and given that it’s almost January 20th, that’s saying quite a bit (sorry, Traffic upgrade for which approximately zero people asked).
unsurprisingly, the myriad posters that Belle de Jour has inspired over the years are both immediately fetching and entirely predictable. it’s only the Polish (natch) who spiced things up a bit, veering away from catherine deneuve’s come hither stare with that inspired abstract design in the bottom right corner of the image tower above. that being said, methinks the Criterion cover art may be the best of the bunch.
what say you?
Blu-ray Transfer Death Match: BELLE DE JOUR
DVD Beaver has posted some comparative stills from the various home video editions of Luis Bunuel’s erotic masterpiece of back nudity, and, well… if you were silly enough not to be excited for Criterion’s upcoming release, your silliness is about to be exterminated with extremely precise prejudice.
first off, this shot of catherine deneuve makes it immediately clear just how thorough a restoration the blu-ray editions of Belle de Jour have enjoyed. that scratch running down deneuve’s right shoulder has been totally eliminated. the blu-rays are obviously sharper, but by such a dramatic margin that the look on deneuve’s face seems completely different: the lack of detail in standard-def made her eyes look beady and cold, but in HD her expression seems more directly expectant. as for the colors, both blu-rays look great, but i feel the Studio Canal release is a touch too warm, and that Criterion has once again done right by a film by embracing its more earthly, organic tones. here, it seems like deneuve is the only bit of carnal life in a sterile environment, whereas in the studio canal transfer she almost sinks into the wall.
anyway, you can all judge for yourselves when Criterion releases Belle de Jour on DVD & Blu-ray on 1/17/2012.
Catherine Deneuve looking through the camera on the set of REPULSION.
there are a metric ton of great photos from the set of Polanski’s REPULSION, but this one — which i’m just now seeing for the first time — has instantly vaulted up my list of favorites. it’s not the most striking image to emerge from the set (and it’s certainly unspectacular when compared to several sequences from the film, itself), but between the camera cranks, the florid dress, and the thick veins of crazed blonde hair… it’s alchemy, a cool break from creating madness.
(credit to the great blog If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger…)
