The Story of O (1975) - Just Jaeckin
A promotional card for Just Jaeckin's Story of O film
The Story of O (1975) - Just Jaeckin [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
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- The Story of O (1975) - Just Jaeckin [Amazon.com]
A film, The Story of O, was made in 1975 by director Just Jaeckin, starring Corinne Clery. The film met with far less acclaim than the book. It was banned in the United Kingdom by the British Board of Film Censors until February 2000. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_O [Oct 2004]
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 for Amazon.com
see also review by Nathaniel Thompson
- Fruits of Passion - The Story of "O" Continued (1981) - Shuji Terayama [Amazon.com]
A delighful exercise in visual poetry "Les Fruits" uses the "Story of O" merely as a pretext for an uplifting tale of submission and deliverance, inventing what should be called the first porno-kabuki movie. It must be seen more than a few times to engage a full appreciation. To my mind i compares only with Greenway's "8+1/2 Women" and Matton's "Spermula" in the category of films that capture the true pathos of sex in narrative. But this one goes one step further in trying to bridge the gap between western and eastern erotics like no other film I've seen. Kinski is at his best/worst throughout, as an entirely repulsive Sir Stephen. The chinese revolutionary setting is another engaging sidelight which gives the whole possession/liberation dialectics a depth which O never had. A rare jewel of a painting... --Jules Verme, amazon.com
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