It was the role that made Catherine Deneuve a star: Séverine the cosseted young housewife who escaped into a secret life as a prostitute while other women went shopping.

Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira picks up the Belle de Jour story - look away now if you haven't seen the original - 40 years after Séverine's husband was shot and paralysed by her lover. Slimy Henri Husson (played in both films by Michel Piccoli), the man who taunted her in Belle de Jour, spots Séverine (Bulle Ogier) all these years later at a concert. He gives chase and she scarpers - but finally relents and agrees to dinner.

This is a stately and ruminative response to Buñuel's film, and a slim one at that - just 68 minutes long. Oliveira, who celebrates his 100th birthday in a matter of weeks, has written a gem of an autumn role for Piccoli. But there is something reductive in all these talky explanations, nailing down the mysteries of fantasy and dream life that Buñuel so audaciously left hanging.