Histoire d'O

Just Jaeckin's film version of the celebrated novel by Pauline Reage manages to completely miss the point of her work (by changing the ending, specifically), but taken purely as a movie has a certain amount of interest.

Corrine Clery plays 'O', a photographer who is taken by her boyfriend Rene (Udo Kier) to a sado-masochistic den where she willingly submits to physical and sexual abuse. 'O's motivation was much more obvious within the novel, but here it is secondary to the titallating spectacle of soft porn. Clery is not really the ideal 'O', either, her looks being too idealistic and her acting just too bad.

After a spell in the academy which serves to turn her into a total submissive she is practically sold on to Sir Stephen (50s pin-up Anthony Steel, of all people!) who is even more depraved and dominating than anyone else she has met. Perhaps the strongest sections of the film concern 'O's relationship with Sir S, but I wasn't convinced by the changed ending (powerful though it was from a movie standpoint). The cinematography is also attractive, particularly in its use of colour, and the French language version adds a certain mystique to the story.

Based on a novel by Dominique Aury, Story of O is an arty version of the classic story of S&M. Despite the sadomasochistic tone, the film is actually rather soft; but while it may not delight fans of the more hardcore pornography, the way that director Just Jaeckin tried to elevate the story above what it is and make a 'classic' film, as well as the fact that parts of it actually are erotic means that this is at least a fairly successful piece of softcore porn. The film focuses on a woman simply named 'O' (which is somewhat ironic because it sounds like a James Bond codename and the lead is played by Moonraker Bond girl Corinne Clery). She goes out with a man named Rene, who decides to take her to a retreat where she is trained in sexual perversion. It's clear that the director obviously valued his subject material and although the film fails as a classy drama; the way that it's filmed does give some extra interest. The acting is actually fairly decent, with Corinne Clery standing out alongside Anthony Steel and Udo Kier. There's a fair amount of sexual perversion involved although the film does not go into great detail with most of it; but we do get plenty of whipping and lesbianism at least. I have to say that I preferred Gerard Damiano's 'The Story of Joanna', which was also based on the classic French novel; but this is decent enough stuff and worthwhile for one viewing.

Adapted from a famous erotic novel – with Sadean overtones – by Dominique Aury (writing as Pauline Reage), this came hot on the heels of director Jaeckin’s box-office smash EMMANUELLE (1974), and was itself followed by Shuji Terayama’s FRUITS OF PASSION (1981). I would also like to watch Jess Franco’s reworking of the same source material, THE SEXUAL STORY OF O (1981) – recently released on DVD through Severin.

Anyway, easily the best things about the film are the pleasing soft-focus photography and Pierre Bachelet’s haunting score. The stunning-looking Corinne Clery is ideally cast in the enigmatic title role – not so her male co-stars, stolid Udo Kier and a rather bemused Anthony Steel (Jaeckin originally wanted Christopher Lee who had actually played a similar role, briefly but effectively, in Franco’s superior EUGENIE...THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION [1969]).

With too many characters involved but not enough explanation as to their particular motives, the film winds up being mostly uninvolving as a result: the female ‘victims’ are too easily willed into participating into the clandestine and degrading goings-on, as if they – and the viewing audience with them – are supposed to take all of this twaddle for granted (not to say seriously)! However, the finale – in which Clery is seen to have mastered her skills in playing the game and now matches her ‘superiors’ in every way – is a nice touch.

The Arrow R2 DVD I watched presents the film in an English-dubbed re-edited version prepared by Jaeckin himself (though the erotic content is said to be intact). Incidentally, I followed this with Radley Metzger’s similar but even more disturbing and explicit THE IMAGE (1976).

'The Story Of O' was one of the best known and most successful soft-core movies of the 1970s. While it reeks of kitsch appeal all these years later, it is actually a pretty good movie overall, and it still has some genuinely erotic moments. Corinne Clery ('Moonraker') plays the title character simply referred to as 'O'. She is absolutely beautiful and has a great body (which we see frequently as she spends much of the movie naked), so even if bondage isn't your thing there's much to hold any straight man's attention throughout! O is introduced by her boyfriend Rene (the legendary Udo Kier) into the world of b and d, s and m, and suchlike. Initially reluctant to participate in these sex games she begins to blossom. Rene "gives" her to the sophisticated Sir Stephen (Anthony Steel, a major British star of the 1940s and 1950s), and O eventually finds herself falling in love with the older man. This is a generally well acted movie with lots of visual style and a haunting score by Pierre Bachelet. 'The Story Of O' has aged much better than one might assume and is worth a look, even if it is just to drool at Ms. Clery and marvel at how young and fresh faced Udo Kier looks in it!

"Story of O" is luxuriant, nicely photographed, and Corinne Clery is quite appealing as a sensual actress…

The film is an adaptation of Pauline Reage's novel about a young girl called O and her entry into the art of loving… The special philosophy here is that women, by nature, are inferior to men and should therefore submit to their every emotion and desire. This is the only way for a woman to find ecstasy…

O falls in love with a practitioner of this doctrine, and is forced to go through quite a lot before he will take her in…

The treatment of eroticism is slow and careful… O is initiated into a house of bondage where the women are playthings for the male clientele… No talking or complaining is permitted... If the rules are broken, they are "punished" in the collar with whips and chains...

One can call this film a lot of things, but "subtle" isn't one of them… Still, it's not overly offensive either, despite its extremely one-sided view of femininity... It does have a seductive quality, and we are attracted into its exotic fact or assumption largely because of Corinne Clery's beauty and sensuality