Belle De Jour (1967)
 Séverine
Serizy is a young, beautiful Paris housewife who has masochistic
daydream fantasies about elaborate floggings and bondage.
She is married to a doctor (Jean Sorel) and loves him, but
cannot share physical intimacy with him.
A male friend mentions a high-class brothel to Séverine, and
soon she secretly tries to work there during the afternoon (using
the pseudonym Belle de jour).
The brothel is run by Madame Anaïs, played by Geneviève
Page.
Séverine will only work up until five o'clock each day,
returning to her blissfully unaware husband in the evening.
As the film progresses Séverine becomes entangled with a young
gangster who offers her the thrills and excitement contained in
her fantasies. The situation become more complicated when
Séverine decides to leave the brothel.
Jealous of her lover he tracks her down to her address where he
threatens to tell of her hidden identity but Séverine manages to
convince him to leave.
Pulling out a gun, he waits outside for her husband to return
home and shoots him three times before escaping and eventually
getting caught by the police.
Séverine's husband survives the event but is left in a
coma.
The film ends with Séverine escaping into fantasy once more;
this time however there are no sexual undertones. Her husband is
healthy again and they kiss before looking out the window on to
the opening scene of the film.
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