Belle Toujours

We live in the age of the franchise. One box office smash will inevitably see a glut of copycat follow-ups green-lit and rushed in production. It is refreshing then, to come across a sequel that, not only arrives decades after the original production, but has also been made for all the right reasons. Evergreen Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira has crafted Belle Toujours as an homage to the acclaimed Spanish auteur Luis Buñuel, revisiting the characters of his 1967 erotic thriller Belle de Jour, 40 years after their initial incarnation.

In the original edition, Michel Piccoli's supporting role as the lecherous Henri Husson was the stand out performance - a fact borne out by Oliveira's decision to focus this spiritual sequel almost entirely on him. Returning to the role, his take on the aging sensualist is the beating heart of the film and demonstrates that in the autumn of his years Piccoli is still at the top of his game.

Spotting the Belle de Jour herself, Séverine, at a Dvorak concert, Husson rushes to meet her, narrowly missing his quarry as she dashes off into the night. Following a spot of geriatric detective work and a chance encounter outside a fashionable boutique events come to a head. She begrudgingly agrees to attend a dinner on the condition that Husson reveals the secret that has been haunting her for 38 years.

While the neat plot will be enough to tide you over for the duration of the modest running time, those viewers who have not experienced the guilty pleasure of Belle de Jour may feel that some of the narrative subtleties are lost on them. Although Husson's explorations are interspersed with whisky-fueled confessions to a local barman about the youthful exploits of he and Séverine, the account is too vague and subjective to properly convey the backstory to the uninitiated.

Despite this, there are other joys to be found in Belle Toujours, not least of all a display of exquisite direction. Oliveira's camera is relentlessly static, with every shot framed to perfection. Each scene seems to have been constructed down to the most minute detail, an endeavor which, as with much of Oliveira's oeuvre, lends the action a theatrical feel. A superb turn from Miccoli, as well as stalwart support from Bulle Ogier (Séverine) and Ricardo Trêpa (Barman), keep the audience from becoming too disconnected.

While the work is engaging as a whole, the climactic dinner scene is as close as the film gets to gripping. The exploration of ailing sexual potency and a life dominated by the past is an interesting trip into the human psyche, although viewers unfamiliar with the source material may feel that some of the narrative subtleties are lost on them. Nevertheless, for those who have seen Belle de Jour, Belle Toujours serves as a charming addendum to Buñuel's flighty surrealist erotica.

Belle Toujours at the ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH opens 21st November until 30th November. www.ica.org.uk