The Story of O
by Just Jaeckin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Steel, Christiane Minazzoli, Corinne Cléry, Jean Gaven, Udo KierDirector: Just Jaeckin
Brand: KOC
Cinematographer: Robert Fraisse
Cinematographer: Yves Rodallec
Producer: Claude Giroux
Producer: Gérard Lorin
Producer: Éric Rochat
Writer: Dominique Aury
Writer: Sébastien Japrisot
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-20
Audience Rating: X (Mature Audiences Only)
Studio: Somerville House
Product features:
- In a strange, secluded chateau, a woman know only as O (Corinne Clery) is introduced to sadomasochism by her lover: he whips her, chains her, and watches her make love to and beat up others. In the process of "proving her love" for him, she gives up everything- even agreeing to be branded -- to provide him with pleasure. This adaptation of Pauline Reage's best-selling erotic novel was directed
Movie Reviews of The Story of O
Movie Review: Not dominant submissive but metaphor
Summary: 5 Stars
I have not yet read the originating novel, but I have just finished watching this movie for the second time. I was renting it. Now I'm going to buy it - one of very few, as I almost never buy movies.
I must say that I found much more in it the second time. The first time not only did the physical and emotional whippings disturb me but, just as much, O's willing apparent debasement and her masters' disregard for her feelings - they only seemed to care about her obedience. This is an anti-turnon for me. The sex scenes are not really convincing, nor are the whippings. I realized that I, as audience, was not being asked to accept that much pain or that much pleasure from either.
The male characters are much more flat than the female ones, particularly O, as if they really didn't count. And there was something in this most beautiful woman's portrayal which left me thinking it wasn't at all simple.
Bottom line, it is abundantly clear that this is far, far more than an S&M movie, nor is it about bondage, submission and domination, or any other kind of sexual perversion or obsession.
Some phrases stuck out to me, although I'm not sure I'm quoting exactly accurately. The narrator said the O loved everything and everyone that came to her because it came to her by request from her lover. She said that O knew that if she lasted to the end that all would be given to her. O's apparent peace of mind about everything that happened to her simply didn't gybe with a debasement/submissive/sexual perversion sort of story. She definitely does not come across as sick. She, at times, was as deeply terrified or ashamed as any normal woman would be in the circumstances and yet continued freely to accept the demands of obedience to those who loved her and those who didn't. I was puzzled at how easily she accepted that Rene was no longer her lover, and continued to do exactly the same thing with Sir Stefan. All of this indicated that something much deeper than anything relatively superficial about perversion, infatuation, and so-on was going on. It made far too deep an impression the first time I saw the movie, even without understanding it. It made me think that it was, as another reviewer mentioned, hitting some archetypes, and something deep in the human spirit.
I began to think of the whole story as an extended metaphor about the demands and rewards of love. When we love, we willingly go through hell for the sake of love -- not just for the sake of the lover. The love relationship places heavy demands of obedience on us. It whips us and debases us -- love and its intimacy always find our weaknesses, and their exposure makes us feel naked, beaten and debased. But love always allows us the freedom to opt out, as did O's lovers and masters. And something deep within us always knows that, if we succumb to the abasement we may feel, and accept the beating our feelings take, that love, real human love, marks us forever as O was marked, and enbles us to love and be loved fully and deeply, and gives us peace -- indeed, it grants us everything. O shows us how wonderful it can become if we are not overly defensive about our selves in the service of love.
The movie itself does not look as dated as you would think for a 1974 movie -- actually, not at all. The color is a little unsaturated compared to the kind of color we have today, and this contributes to the fantasy that is clearly being spun. I happen to enjoy naked women a lot, and there are a lot of them in this movie, fully frontal, more than a glimpse, naked and unashamed. There are few scenes that are fully clothed for very long. I thought all were beautiful women, self-possessed, graceful, fully feminine and sensual without being affected.
The two brief closeup shots of "female genitalia", as one reviewer put it, (although he apparently didn't even notice them), are exquisitely done - just close enough, just long enough, just modest enough, just open enough.
There is a visual potpourri of modern day (for 1974), turn-of-the-century wealth and romanticism, and even some medieval castles and costumes. The only thing that bothered me even temporarily was Sir Stefan's overly-coiffed hairdo, but it didn't take long to get past it. It's a legitimate part of his character.
And the best comment of all came from my wife when the movie was over. And I hasten to add that there are absolutely no submissive or dominative tendencies in her at all. She said, "Wierd. Wow. That's one very sexy movie".
Summary of The Story of O
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 09/26/06
Wide Screen: no
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
A milestone of cinematic eroticism, The Story of O was an art house sensation in 1975, and it's still worthy of intelligent discussion. As with the controversial French novella by Pauline Réage, reactions to Just Jaeckin's sumptuous adaptation range from moral outrage to masturbatory indulgence, yet this remains one of the few sex films that stand the test of time (and a lot of academic study). Championed by practitioners of bondage and discipline and vilified by feminists, this metaphorical "love dream" (as Jaeckin has called it) follows the beautiful fashion photographer "O" (Corrine Clery) as she, like many gorgeously naked women before her, is "trained" for a seemingly satisfying life of love and discipline, her freedom sacrificed to the man (Anthony Steel) whom she willingly obeys. The debate whether Jaeckin's feminine-empowerment ending, which differs from that of the novella, justifies a story of humiliating submission is just one more reason why The Story of O endures. (Note: This DVD presents the 97-minute version of the film, edited by the director to improve pacing and not for purposes of censorship.) --Jeff Shannon
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