Trash, Art, And The Movies Podcast #6: I Never Forget A Face, Especially If I've Sat On It

In this week's episode of the Trash, Art, and the Movies podcast, Erin Fraser and I revisited two films about respectable women leading secret double lives as prostitutes: Luis Buñuel's Belle de Jour, starring Catherine Deneuve in one of her signature roles, and Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion, starring Kathleen Turner in a role that is at once the most embarrassing and also the most astonishing of her career. Both directors were famous for their irrepressible subversive streaks, but Buñuel's reputation ranks much higher among film critics than Russell's does (even with the re-evaluation Russell's work has been undergoing following his death late last year). Certainly Belle de Jour is a more respectable movie than Crimes of Passion—I doubt you'll be seeing a Criterion edition of Ken Russell's crazy 1984 thriller anytime soon.

But Erin and I found a lot to like about Crimes of Passion all the same—and we threw a little bit of mud at Belle de Jour in the process. Does that mean that Crimes of Passion actually pulled off an upset and won the podcast, though? You'll have to listen to the end to find out. You can download the episode directly by clicking here, or you can make things easier on yourself and subscribe to the show through iTunes.