A man and a woman sit next to each other on a museum bench, behind them are plaster casts of ancient sculptures. The man has his head turned towards the woman.
  • Year 2012
  • Material/Technique Single-channel video installation (color, sound)
  • Dimensions Variable
  • Length 13'
  • Category Media Art
  • Collection Sammlung Goetz, Medienkunst, München

This short film by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Tristan Bera tells the prequel to Luis Buñuel's classic film Belle de Jour (1967), starring Catherine Deneuve. She plays the role of the beautiful Séverine, who leads a double life as a wife and prostitute.
In Belle Comme le Jour, the protagonist leaves her Paris hotel room and makes her way to the Louvre, where she meets an unknown man. Surrounded by ancient marble statues, the man tells Séverine the story of a monk who committed sodomy with a female dog in the Middle Ages and how he was burned alive as a result.
The stranger reappears in Séverine’s hotel room and quietly watches her combing her hair and packing her suitcase; yet is he really there, or is he just an illusion? The two eventually meet again in the Louvre. In the silent presence of the ancient sculptures, Séverine kneels in front of the man and licks his hand.
The strange sexual allusions in the short film create an enigmatic atmosphere and hint at the erotic desires and sadomasochistic practices that Séverine will indulge in the feature film Belle de Jour.

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