Maîtresse

I watched a cut version of this film, but it was still not very startling. Olivier (Gerard Depardieu) is a burglar who breaks into the house of Ariane (Bulle Ogier), a dominatrix. She decides to let him go, and Olivier asks her to dinner. She accepts and they soon fall in love. But this love has many problems. Olivier is envious, and struggles to accept Ariane's job, fulfilling the fantasies of perverted wealthy men, especially a mysterious one named Gauthier, who Olivier later confronts. There are mild scenes of sadomasochism and unusual sexual behaviour, but nothing that shocks. Maybe it was diluted slightly by the cut version I watched. Gerard Depardieu and Bulle Ogier are both good as the lead characters. It is watchable, and a fairly enjoyable tale.

Before I saw this film I was warned that the film contains quite a few explicit sexual ideas and images but I have to say that I found the film to be a beautiful romantic .It isn't a conventional romance ,rather extreme if I dare to say,but nevertheless you can easily identify yourself with some of the scenes.Me personally would categorise this film as an Atmospheric Romantic.quite self-explanatory!

The big virtue of this movie is that it is a real movie, with a real story and a reasonable plot, with remarkable actors, which gives a nice introduction to some BDSM practices and lifestyle in quite a credible movie.

I really recommend it if you want to raise the topic of BDSM with someone...

MAÎTRESSE (1973) **** Gérard Depardieu, Bulle Ogier, André Rouyer, Nathalie Keryan. In this Barbet Schroeder film, Olivier (Depardieu) burglarizes the apartment of a dominatrix named Ariane (Ogier). After Ariane catches him in the act, the two fall in love and Olivier struggles to accept his girlfriend's bizarre profession. In the uncut version, some of the torture scenes (which were purportedly filmed using real-life "slaves" of a real-life dominatrix) are truly painful to watch, and are undoubtedly some of the most shocking ever to appear in a non-pornographic movie. Which leads one to ask: Is Maîtresse an artsy exploitation flick disguised as a love story, or simply a love story that makes legitimate use of graphic (and violent) sexual imagery? Either way, the film is moving, provocative and impossible to forget. Highly recommended.

Story of the power struggle of a professional Dominatrix and her Alph- male boyfriend. Olivier (Gérard Depardieu)is the brutish & confused sponger boyfriend trying to show who's boss to Ariane, the professional Dominatrix. Despite their new relationship his interfering starts to make things difficult for her 'buisiness', aspects of which are shown in graphic style like a slave getting his bits nailed to a piece of 2 by 4. Also interesting to note is that S&m today doesn't seem much different than it was in '76 (note the ballet shoes & other accoutrement's).

A great film, photography and story-wise(but which could have done without the horse slaughter scene). However if I could edit out other parts of this film also, it would be the hulking Neanderthal thug Depardieu depicts (admittly well). Then I would watch this film a million times just for seeing the beautiful Bulle Ogiers Ariane.