Comparing Laura Mulvey’s Essay, “Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema” to Luis Buñel’s Film, Belle de Jour

"Depictions of women expressing unique sexual desires are not unilaterally patriarchal: Buñuel makes it clear that they are not inherently castrated, but are repressed in their expression by the dominant structures that Mulvey diagnoses. Reflecting patriarchal dominance over female sexuality, the male characters in Belle de Jour control the film’s narrative. Even as the male characters are dictating the narrative, Severine dictates the perspective from which we view the narrative. Buñuel does this intentionally in order to further the audience’s sympathy for Severine and her feelings of powerlessness."