At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

But not succeeding anyway. Buñuel was a genius and de Oliveira only a very talented movie director. A parenthesis to say that for you to understand fully this movie you must have seen Buñuel's movie "Belle de Jour" which dates from the sixties of last century. This movie now aspires (as some kind of homage to Buñuel's work) to be some kind of continuation of the latter but a feeble one indeed. Those who have seen Buñuel's movie probably will remember the story: a beautiful woman (Catherine Deneuve then) who loves her husband has however some masochist tendency which pulls her to prostitute herself in a luxury brothel. Buñuel tells this story brilliantly in images and dialogues diving deeply in the arcana of the human soul. De Oliveira's movie profits (or tries to profit) from that story by concocting a supposed not very meaningful end to it (which becomes a poor open end after all). The story of the movie we are reviewing now is based in the encounter many years later of the woman of the first movie (Bulle Ogier now who resembles Catherine Deneuve as much as a screech-owl resembles a dove)and a close friend (Michel Piccoli) of her and her (now already deceased) husband, who tries to convince her to have dinner with him in a private room in a posh restaurant by promising to tell her if he had or not told her husband at the time of the events above mentioned, about her behaviour also above described. This has not much interest in itself as the continuation of Buñuel's story to be given as the climax in de Oliveira's movie. To the movie's credit however we may refer the excellent performance of Michel Piccoli, a few nice images of Paris and some beautiful interiors and visual details and the smooth visual development of the story showing the de Oliveira's real talent in what regards movie's and actor's direction. And that's all.

If one were looking for a one-word description of this film Elegant would serve as well as any for elegance informs every frame from the concert hall of the opening sequence to the hotel where Severine is domiciled to the the bar where Husson learns this to the boutique outside which they arrange a rendez-vous to the private dining room where the rendez-vous takes place. In Germany they traditionally wrapped gifts in brown paper reasoning that it was the gift itself that mattered rather than the gift-wrap. Here we are offered exquisite layers of gift-wrap with the promise of a Faberge egg at the centre; alas, when the last layer has been lovingly unfurled we find merely a hollow enamel egg of the type once used to induce hens to lay.Octo (now nona) genarian Olveira thinks nothing of squandering eight minutes on a redundant opening sequence of several subsequent 30 second shots of Paris by day and night, eloquent punctuation for what amounts to a stylistic shaggy dog story. I enjoyed it but once is enough.

Last Thursday start the most famous film event in Mexico City: La Muestra International De Cine. This event show recent films that were in the biggest festivals like Cannes and others. This year there are two films that i can't miss: Paranoid Park and The Darjeeling Limited and also i want to see 4 months 3 weeks & two days, but for me is always nice to can watch the rest of the films.Last weekend i have the chance to see Belle Toujours and i was a little disappointed about the film. Luis Buñuel make Belle De Jour in 1967 and this film is like a second part and a tribute to Buñuel. I have to say that i haven't see Belle De Jour and after see this one i don't feel the need to do it.Well about the film: Is about this same characters of Buñuel's film that have this secret affair and now 30 years later they met again. The film start in the opera and is very good because is like you are in the concert and when the song ends i almost clap. Later the film doesn't have a real point and for me was a little boring, more in the part when they are eating is a very strange scene. I put 6.6 out of 10 to this film, just for the part in the bar that i really like, is like a film of Jim Jarmsuch, slow and with excellent dialogs between the characters in strange situations.So i found this as a very strange film that maybe work better without the need to be a tribute to Luis Buñuel.

I remember reading somewhere that Oliveira's film works as a symbol of the impossible reconciliation between past and present, between cinema (with its passion for manipulation) and reality (with its relentless curiosity for the truth), two dimensions that clash irremediably in modern times.Personally, I found this to be a excellent comedy, full of delicious winks to symbolic surrealism (the Joan of arc statue, the rooster scene!), a mayor work in Oliveiras impressive catalog and a proper tribute to Buñuel's work. It's a bit sad that it has been terribly underrated by "major" critics around the globe (Cahiers, etc.) *Taken from a comment I made to filmref.com