"Catherine Deneuve plays a housewife caught between definitions as either the subject or object of fantasy in Luis Buñuel’s genre-defying exploration of identity, sex, and reality."

"I would say Peau d’âne, by Jacques Demy, a French musical with Catherine Deneuve, because I fell in love with Catherine Deneuve. I was so impressed. I think that, because I watched her being a princess in that movie, that I wanted to be an actress. She was so amazing, and I love Jacques Demy movies. It’s like a real beautiful fairy tale and, I just watch that movie again and again."

"Buñuel films have had a huge influence on me, this one perhaps most of all. There was a time when I carried the book of the script around, opening it at random to absorb its perverse, funny tone and stare at the old black-and-white stills. Catherine Deneuve acts like she’s sleepwalking, but her character, Séverine, is wonderfully cool and disdainful as she gives free rein to her erotic fantasies, in dreams and in life."

"I’m going to cite probably a really odd one: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Catherine Deneuve – it’s a musical in the 1960s, and I think that’s the best example of utilizing color and production design in a film that’s been done in the history of cinema. Basically it’s stunning and it’s a really delightful, buoyant film about love and friends. It’s just a beautiful, beautiful movie and probably not what your readers would have thought I might have picked. I use The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as an example of how color can inform a character’s internal head space. I’ve used that many, many, many times in my projects — I’ve pointed production designers, writers, and cinematographers to that film as an [example of how to use] color. It’s a cool movie."

"I loved it. I thought it was such a sensual movie. I’ve always been a very curious person when it comes to sensuality and sexuality. I was raised by a mother that always taught my sisters and I that the body is not what’s tainted, it’s the mind. Therefore there was a lot flexibility; she gave us a lot of responsibility. She trusted us with things that kids aren’t supposed to be watching. My mom has a version of what censorship is, and it’s quite different to what censorship means to a lot of societies and cultures. I was very grateful for that because it taught me so much passion, and it taught me to feel okay with the human body and wanting passion and love. And The Hunger was an amazing love story. I loved the performances by Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon and David Bowie."

"A thriller wrapped inside an enigma, this is my desert island disc, the one I’ve watched
 more than any other on this list. The psychology of the characters is revealed
 slowly and ambiguously. Each time I see the wheelchair (the husband’s fantasy) and hear the sound of the horse-and-carriage bells (the wife’s), and the way
 the two achieve harmony in the final scene, I’m reminded of Luis Buñuel’s ability to
 fuse reality and illusion in his characters and for the viewer. He performs this
 magic in plain view, like the best magicians. This is the film that illustrates that
 Catherine Deneuve is not only one of the world’s most beautiful women but a
 fine actress. Belle de jour is truly subversive in its satiric depiction of middle-
class society, the church, and our social mores. If a ratings board ever understood
 this film, it would receive an NC-17, though there is no sex and little violence."

"I can’t explain this movie. It’s just perfection. Sad and funny, light and heavy, full of boisterous color and nonstop singing. Probably the most romantic movie I have ever seen. Catherine Deneuve has never been so lovely. I have never been to France, but I imagine it is just like it is depicted here. Maybe I will never go so I can keep my fantasy and save myself from disappointment. Jacques Demy was a singular talent. There was never anyone like him and there never will be again. I highly recommend the entire box set of his work, but this one will always be my favorite. I remember seeing it on the big screen at the Music Box in Chicago in the early nineties and walking out on clouds while also being filled with an intense melancholy. I can’t think of a single other movie that makes me feel both of those things at the same time and has left those feelings lingering inside me twenty-plus years later. Michel Legrand’s score is, it goes without saying, iconic and magnificent. And what this movie lacks in dancing, Demy makes up for in his constant gliding camera movements. As if the dance is between the actors and his lens. Pure cinema. Perfection."