Back in 1967, sexy French starlet Catherine Deneuve shocked audiences with her portrayal of a demure housewife with fantasies of being sexually degraded who takes a job at a brothel in the afternoons while her handsome doctor husband is at work in Luis Buenel's Belle de jour.
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Now over fifty years later, Filipino director Paul Alexei Basinillo has put a new spin on the story of a woman’s secret double life with his new film The Escort Wife.In this version, Janelle Tee’s neglected wife discovers her doctor husband is a client of the sex worker next door and gets revenge by becoming a prostitute herself.
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Belle de jour eludes to trauma in Catherine’s character’s past while the The Escort Wife’s trauma is more recent as the titular spouse has just suffered a miscarriage. However both films have the ladies’ new professions eventually leading to husband and wife getting back in the sack.Slight plot differences aren’t the only things that separate the two flicks. Catherine’s bare butt and left nipple under a black see-through shroud was considered scandalous in its day, but with skin becoming more and more prevalent on screen, even mainstream, The Escort Wife has stepped things up with a number of nude moments featuring Janelle and costar Sab Aggabao, including a steamy, slow motion sex scene between the two.
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The Escort Wife definitely cranks up the heat in comparison as it seems Belle de jour is more focused on weirdly fanciful fetishes as opposed to the actual sex itself. Check out the best bits of both films right here and see which one French tickles your fancy!
