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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 ... Read more

Reviews (45)

A Masterwork of Erotic Fiction
I was prompted to write this review after seeing some of the tripe written about the film. Most so-called adult films are mindless, empty, clinical depictions of rutting and most "erotica" is childish and bland. The Story of O is different: it is literature and the film is an excellent adaptation of the novel. I read the novel first and felt nothing but satisfation on viewing the film. The director and cast bring the novel alive as it is meant to be.

This story, written by a woman I might add, is not about the exploitation of women or a woman. It is not about submission to anything other than one's own love and sexuality. It is symbolic, so profoundly so, that it must touch upon our archetypes.

Many might miss that through submission, O conquers her lover--totally. There is an irony here in that her lover ends up the submissive one. She taps into the infinite power of her femininity and becomes a goddess. I am not into bondage and discipline personally, yet this movie is a favorite of my wife and me. O haunts, she is supernally erotic, and profoundly feminine.

The quality of the film is first class, it is well acted, and is a classic. IMO, it is a must have film. It is the only erotic film in our house--the rest just are so bland.

A Masterwork of Erotic Fiction
I was prompted to write this review after seeing some of the tripe written about the film. Most so-called adult films are mindless, empty, clinical depictions of rutting and most "erotica" is childish and bland. The Story of O is different: it is literature and the film is an excellent adaptation of the novel. I read the novel first and felt nothing but satisfation on viewing the film. The director and cast bring the novel alive as it is meant to be.

This story, written by a woman I might add, is not about the exploitation of women or a woman. It is not about submission to anything other than one's own love and sexuality. It is symbolic, so profoundly so, that it must touch upon our archetypes.

Many might miss that through submission, O conquers her lover--totally. There is an irony here in that her lover ends up the submissive one. She taps into the infinite power of her femininity and becomes a goddess. I am not into bondage and discipline personally, yet this movie is a favorite of my wife and me. O haunts, she is supernally erotic, and profoundly feminine.

The quality of the film is first class, it is well acted, and is a classic. IMO, it is a must have film. It is the only erotic film in our house--the rest just are so bland.

Classic Soft Core
The Story of O doesn't stand much as a story at all on the surface. It
really is just a film that dared to be original for it's time and probably
succeeded only because of it's massive amounts of nudity. I for one (of many
it's assumed) absolutely adore nudity. The Story of O is actually deeper
than I give it credit for and that is actually something I can appreciate.
I enjoy being convinced that these characters are real and caring about them
and so forth and then seeing the best looking ones rip off there clothes and
prance about in nothing but their epitdermis. That's my absolute favorite
part of cinema actually. Call me primal, shallow and a glutton but it's
among my favorite things.

Corinne Clery is a model turned actress who had a good string of
exploitation-like films going there for quite some time. She is my
definition of perfect in terms of thin brunettes with beautiful faces. Her
body is indeed nice to look at and here we see her more naked than quite
possibly anyone had ever been in film. We don't see anything too graphic
unfortunately but she is nude for about 80% of the film. One more comment
on this dimension, this film does contain my all-time favorite female full
frontal nude scene ever. Toward the end we see Cori in all in glory
standing up, tied to two posts covered in sweat and some nice whiplash marks
as she shakes about with semi-wet hair. Very nice indeed.

O.K., enough on the shameless aspects. The Story of O is a standout
landmark in this genre directed by softcore staple Just Jaekin (Emmanuelle).
He gives an element to softcore that only Andrew Blake can give to hardcore
and what really should be the goal of this now dying genre. This work is far
more intimate and at first seemingly less gratuitous but lets face it, the
end result is really no different to the majority of viewers anyway. The
crowd that is just happy to get Cori Clery paused or looped on their DVDs (I
consider part of myself among them to some degree). However, in the vain of
films that push mainstream and well directed projects to the limits, The
Story of O will always be remembered.

I've heard comparison's to the Image. If you liked the Image, keep in mind
that The Story of O doesn't go that far. Metzger's work is always somewhat
gratuitous and pornagraphic, this film is not. All situations are
stimulated and played down. Nice displays of the female body but also not
an anatomy lesson either. Jaekin actually despises pornography probably
because it mostly misguides the motivations for creating intelligent
pictures about this kind of subject matter.

One of the best and most erotic films ever made.
"The Story of O" is a masterpiece. I wish I would have seen it in its original language (French), but it's dubbed in English pretty good. Do you remember that famous orgy scene from Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut? Well, this entire film feels like that scene and that's very cool. It creates a mysterious and dreamy atmosphere, it has good acting and it's beautifully photographed and edited. You don't get to see a movie like this everyday.

Was this film really made in 1975? If I didn't know I would have sweared it was a new release. As jacked as it may sound "The Story of O" deserves to be such a classic -- it stands with brio the test of time and after "Nine 1/2 Weeks" it could very well may be the best erotic film ever made. As jacked as it may sound, I was intrigued by it from the beginning to the end.

Coulda, Shoulda
This one could have been a lot better and should have been a lot sexier. It kinda misses the mark in all areas, except for the fact that if you can get a girl to watc it with you she'll probably be up for some sweating later on -- due to the erotic nature of the film. I'd like to contrast this with the "New Sex Now" video, which, while it is very low in production values, delivers a major payload in the content and expertise that it bestows upon lucky viewers. O, I wish this "O" had been something near as good as the book "Story of O" which was PHENOMENAL -- but alas, it woulda been nice. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This one was a long time coming...
A mainstay on HBO in the 1983-84, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" is a soft-core romance, but not a sleazy one. It wasn't successful in theaters, maybe because nobody knew what audience it was targeted to(surely not literature addicts or art-house filmgoers; maybe Sylvia Kristel/"Emmanuelle" fans). Consequently, it was popular on cable and video, where viewing privacy can elicit whatever reactions necessary(mostly giggles). It's not a very well made movie, but the acting is surprisingly decent and the passion is convincing. It doesn't have good editing, with many scenes(and the ending)cut short, but it has steamy scenes, frisky nudity, and good location filming. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Gwendoline
This is a movie that is based loosely on John Willie's "Sweet GWendoline." Gwendoline, played by Playboy model Tawney Kitaen, is seeking a rare butterfly that was originally sought by her father. She eventually finds a society of all women. The girls are man starved and wear thongs, though the warriors among them get full armor, which means that they can cover their chests somewhat, while the worker girls are not so fortunate. There is bondage aplenty and even a pony-girl powered chariot chase. There is little doubt what the point of *this* movie is!

The movie is half dubbed in the same way that the spaghetti westerns were. Those that speak French, spoke it and were dubbed into English. Tawney did not have to learn french, and her part was spoken in English, as were the other two in her expedition.

The movie was written by "Just Jaekin" who has written several such things including "Emmanuel" in 1974. This is the guy that is the idea behind the "Just Jack" in "Will and Grace."

If you want to see a lot of cuties prancing about and cat-fighting when they are not tied up in one form or another, then this is the movie for you.

One of the great babe fight flicks
If you like voluptuous babes scantily clad in armor running around with sharp pointy things, and who doesn't, this is the movie for you.

If they put it out on tape, let's hope they include all of the fight footage that was missing on the first video VHS release. There was an entire 3 way elimination match that was omitted. Surprisingly enough, I caught it on broadcast TV.

ADAPTATION OF EROTIC ADVENTURE COMIC MISSES THE POINT
Despite what Leonalrd Maltin says, this film, though a French production, is based on a comic strip created in America by an English-Australian, John Coutts (aka John Willie), which first appeared in his amusingly erotic fetish publication "Bizarre" in the late '40's-early'50's. The title was "The Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline" and has recently been released in a deluxe hardcover collection. The original story involved the heroine constantly getting captured by the villains trying to prevent a horse from being run in a race to save the family farm, and a mysterious bob-cut agent keeps on helping her out. The whole point of the comic and its sequels appears to be showing impossibly sexy women in bondage and sexy clothing. This film keeps the names of some of the characters, borrows some concepts from "Bizarre," and does put the heroine in perilous predicaments, but basically goes its own way in theme and story.

In the film, our 1930's heroine, along with her faithful French maid (who wears the bob-cut), are seeking a rare butterfly that her late entymologist father disappeared trying to find. Their adventures take them to a steamy, slimy, decadent Asian port city where they meet a tough, world weary, cynical mercenary who rescues them from an unscrupulous gangster. They travel through jungles and deserts meeting cannibals, river pirates, and other dangers, until they find a hidden civilization of women. To say what happens next would give away too much and besides, the shock of the bizzarre is half the fun of the movie. Suffice it to say that there is much nudity and various forms of imprisonment, bondage, restraint, and gladiatorial combat (even a human-powered chariot race). It is all very French it its creation of scenes, locations, and cultures. It's as if certain elements of old movies that were done but not considered very important really caught the imagination of French fimakers and now they were trying to create their own version.

Many of the actors obviously were not speaking English during filming, and its pretty obvious that the film was completely dubbed. This does get a little distracting.

This movie plays occasionally on TV, where every bare breast must be edited out. This makes the end of the film very choppy. To make up for this lost time, the TV version includes some extra dialogue that makes the character development slightly more believable, and some extra footage that adds some comedy. The video tape lacks this dialogue and footage.

Old fans of the comic probably already know this film exists, it having recieved a lot of attention from the bondage and fetish community. New fans of the comic curious about this film should be warned that the style and frequency of the bondage and restraint is very different from the comic; focused a lot more on the wierd sci-fi dungeon aesthetic and mostly in the last quarter of the movie, rather than the traditional damsel-in-distress style. This was one of Tawney Kitaen's first movies and the filmakers wanted her so much they were willing to scale down the sex and bondage to please her.

Few people would call this a "good" movie, though many people would enjoy it. If you want an actual "good" movie, subtract one star from this review. However, ther is plenty of stuff that will make an audience react: nudity, violence, blood, corny dialogue, bad dubbing, great production value, etc. If you enjoy this sort of thing, add a star.

One of the best BAD movies ever!
I find this movie to be hilarious. It is truly BAD, but it's so much fun to watch. It's like a bad romance novel made into a BAD romance/comedy/action flick with a little zest thrown in from Tawny Kitaen. Most guys tend to like the eye-candy. Most women like the bad romance novel aspect. It's great for those who like BAD movies. ENJOY.

a hoot
About 20 years ago my friend and i went to see this, we had no idea what to expect. It was rated R. But judging from the audience of 10 people, no one had noticed. A family of 4 with 2 young kids and a old couple are what I remember. Well, the film was not for them and they were awfully quiet, but we were laughing ourselves silly since it's such a goof. I think that it would help to get lit before watching it. I just bought it and await my trip down memory lane. ... Read more

Reviews (45)

A Masterwork of Erotic Fiction
I was prompted to write this review after seeing some of the tripe written about the film. Most so-called adult films are mindless, empty, clinical depictions of rutting and most "erotica" is childish and bland. The Story of O is different: it is literature and the film is an excellent adaptation of the novel. I read the novel first and felt nothing but satisfation on viewing the film. The director and cast bring the novel alive as it is meant to be.

This story, written by a woman I might add, is not about the exploitation of women or a woman. It is not about submission to anything other than one's own love and sexuality. It is symbolic, so profoundly so, that it must touch upon our archetypes.

Many might miss that through submission, O conquers her lover--totally. There is an irony here in that her lover ends up the submissive one. She taps into the infinite power of her femininity and becomes a goddess. I am not into bondage and discipline personally, yet this movie is a favorite of my wife and me. O haunts, she is supernally erotic, and profoundly feminine.

The quality of the film is first class, it is well acted, and is a classic. IMO, it is a must have film. It is the only erotic film in our house--the rest just are so bland.

A Masterwork of Erotic Fiction
I was prompted to write this review after seeing some of the tripe written about the film. Most so-called adult films are mindless, empty, clinical depictions of rutting and most "erotica" is childish and bland. The Story of O is different: it is literature and the film is an excellent adaptation of the novel. I read the novel first and felt nothing but satisfation on viewing the film. The director and cast bring the novel alive as it is meant to be.

This story, written by a woman I might add, is not about the exploitation of women or a woman. It is not about submission to anything other than one's own love and sexuality. It is symbolic, so profoundly so, that it must touch upon our archetypes.

Many might miss that through submission, O conquers her lover--totally. There is an irony here in that her lover ends up the submissive one. She taps into the infinite power of her femininity and becomes a goddess. I am not into bondage and discipline personally, yet this movie is a favorite of my wife and me. O haunts, she is supernally erotic, and profoundly feminine.

The quality of the film is first class, it is well acted, and is a classic. IMO, it is a must have film. It is the only erotic film in our house--the rest just are so bland.

Classic Soft Core
The Story of O doesn't stand much as a story at all on the surface. It
really is just a film that dared to be original for it's time and probably
succeeded only because of it's massive amounts of nudity. I for one (of many
it's assumed) absolutely adore nudity. The Story of O is actually deeper
than I give it credit for and that is actually something I can appreciate.
I enjoy being convinced that these characters are real and caring about them
and so forth and then seeing the best looking ones rip off there clothes and
prance about in nothing but their epitdermis. That's my absolute favorite
part of cinema actually. Call me primal, shallow and a glutton but it's
among my favorite things.

Corinne Clery is a model turned actress who had a good string of
exploitation-like films going there for quite some time. She is my
definition of perfect in terms of thin brunettes with beautiful faces. Her
body is indeed nice to look at and here we see her more naked than quite
possibly anyone had ever been in film. We don't see anything too graphic
unfortunately but she is nude for about 80% of the film. One more comment
on this dimension, this film does contain my all-time favorite female full
frontal nude scene ever. Toward the end we see Cori in all in glory
standing up, tied to two posts covered in sweat and some nice whiplash marks
as she shakes about with semi-wet hair. Very nice indeed.

O.K., enough on the shameless aspects. The Story of O is a standout
landmark in this genre directed by softcore staple Just Jaekin (Emmanuelle).
He gives an element to softcore that only Andrew Blake can give to hardcore
and what really should be the goal of this now dying genre. This work is far
more intimate and at first seemingly less gratuitous but lets face it, the
end result is really no different to the majority of viewers anyway. The
crowd that is just happy to get Cori Clery paused or looped on their DVDs (I
consider part of myself among them to some degree). However, in the vain of
films that push mainstream and well directed projects to the limits, The
Story of O will always be remembered.

I've heard comparison's to the Image. If you liked the Image, keep in mind
that The Story of O doesn't go that far. Metzger's work is always somewhat
gratuitous and pornagraphic, this film is not. All situations are
stimulated and played down. Nice displays of the female body but also not
an anatomy lesson either. Jaekin actually despises pornography probably
because it mostly misguides the motivations for creating intelligent
pictures about this kind of subject matter.

One of the best and most erotic films ever made.
"The Story of O" is a masterpiece. I wish I would have seen it in its original language (French), but it's dubbed in English pretty good. Do you remember that famous orgy scene from Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut? Well, this entire film feels like that scene and that's very cool. It creates a mysterious and dreamy atmosphere, it has good acting and it's beautifully photographed and edited. You don't get to see a movie like this everyday.

Was this film really made in 1975? If I didn't know I would have sweared it was a new release. As jacked as it may sound "The Story of O" deserves to be such a classic -- it stands with brio the test of time and after "Nine 1/2 Weeks" it could very well may be the best erotic film ever made. As jacked as it may sound, I was intrigued by it from the beginning to the end.

Coulda, Shoulda
This one could have been a lot better and should have been a lot sexier. It kinda misses the mark in all areas, except for the fact that if you can get a girl to watc it with you she'll probably be up for some sweating later on -- due to the erotic nature of the film. I'd like to contrast this with the "New Sex Now" video, which, while it is very low in production values, delivers a major payload in the content and expertise that it bestows upon lucky viewers. O, I wish this "O" had been something near as good as the book "Story of O" which was PHENOMENAL -- but alas, it woulda been nice. ... Read more