Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Showcase Series: The Secret Life of a Call Girl, Belle De Jour

I had agreed to pick up an extra shift at work tonight, and then at the last minute realized it had been quite some time since I have had a date with my bed. Sure I sleep in it often but to have an evening to just lie in bed all night and watch TV is a chance that comes to me few and far between, so I jumped at it. A quick call to work and I was in my pj’s snuggled under my down-filled comforter with the remote in my hand.

It sounds like quite an uneventful evening and it most certainly started off that way. I drifted off shortly after feeling my feet warm up and was quite disappointed when I awoke, thinking I had slept the night away and missed the opportunity to just hang out in bed. Thankfully it was only midnight so I started channel surfing.

I caught the second half of “Flip this house”, A&E being my most favorite channel. Next was “Most Haunted”. I’ve caught this show a few times; working the grave shift allows me to be familiar with infomercials and from time to time a good haunting story. This one was filmed in an old lighthouse, I didn’t catch the location. Quite creepy some of the phenomenon going on and it’s right up my viewing alley. Then, there she was.

Belle. My pseudo-character. I wrote here about Showcase TV filming a series based on Belle de Jour’s books, “The Secret Life of a Call Girl”. I was overly excited to finally catch episode #5 and 6# tonight! I cannot tell you how peculiar it was to be watching a show based on something so close to my personal life. I suppose when the documentary I participated in finally airs on CTV I may find it even more so but this is the closest I had come to seeing my life portrayed on TV, right in front of my eyes. Something that I could relate so personally to, it was a very odd but exhilarating feeling just the same.

In this particular series, Belle is very much like me. Small breasted, not the most perfectly chiseled body and very down to earth. I found Belle’s book portrayed her more as a sex fiend, a porn star type escort who thrives on the rougher more physically arousing sex. I was happy to see that the Showcase series had toned down her personality to be more the girl-next-door, someone I could relate to a little better.

These two episodes I could have written myself. I have shared the very same experiences. Belle experienced what a bad review was like, a threesome, what a difficult client was like, taking a break and missing Belle’s life and even more compelling…..what it is like to have your closest friend find out you get paid for sex. It covered many aspects of the business as we practice it here; the agency, the visits to the clinic, the competition. the phone calls at all hours of the day and night. It was something I was so glad I finally got a chance to see and was much more real to me than the impression I got from the books I had read.

While the on-screen Belle does not have the family life balance that I do, she has her own set of struggles juggling her personal life with that of Belle’s. It was quite entertaining to see it scripted and played out as it was. I’d suggest to any of you channel surfers out there to keep an eye for the series. They are in half-hour segment aired on Showcase; I will leave a link at the bottom of this page for airing dates if anyone is interested.
http://www.showcase.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=113104

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