Belle de Jour (novel)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Belle de Jour is a novel by French author Joseph Kessel, published in 1928 by Gallimard.
Plot
The novel opens with an event from Séverine Sérizy's childhood, in which a mechanic touches the eight-year-old on her way from her bedroom to her mother's. The story then follows Séverine as a young, beautiful housewife. It is difficult for her to fulfill her sexual affinity for masochistic desires with her husband, Pierre Sérizy. Although they love each other, physical intimacy is a problem, which frustrates them both. Following Monsieur Husson's mentioning of a brothel, Séverine chooses to seek satisfaction as a prostitute with the pseudonym Belle de Jour (Engl. the beautiful of the day), as she works from two to five o'clock each day, returning to her unaware husband in the evening. Séverine becomes entangled with one of her punters, Marcel, who is a young gangster. He provides with the thrills and excitement contained in her fantasies. The situation becomes more complicated when Séverine decides to leave the brothel, with her madam's (Madame Anaïs) agreement, after finding Marcel has become too demanding, and jealous of her husband. Husson has also discovered her secret as a potential, though unwilling, client. One of the gangster's associates tracks Séverine to her home address. Marcel visits her, and threatens to reveal her hidden identity, but Séverine persuades him to leave. Marcel waits outside for her husband to return home and shoots him three times before escaping but eventually being shot by the police. Pierre survives, but is firstly left in a coma. The police are unable to find a motive for the attempted murder, but after Pierre leaves hospital, paralyzed and sitting in a wheelchair, Husson visits him and possibly tells him the truth.
Film adaption
The novel was adapted into a film. 1967 Luis Bunuel directed the motionpicture starring Catherine Deneuve
See also
- Belle de Jour, the pseudonym of Brooke Magnanti, who published her blog of working as a London call girl
- Secret Diary of a Call Girl, British television series based on the books of Brooke Magnanti, starring Billie Piper
- Sadism and masochism in fiction
