The Story of O (1975)
"Histoire d'O" (original title)

The beautiful O is taken by her boyfriend, Rene, to a bizarre retreat, where she is trained in bondage and sexual perversion. Rene discharges a personal debt by transferring possession of O... See full summary »

Director:

Just Jaeckin

Writers:

Dominique Aury (novel), Sébastien Japrisot

Stars:

Corinne Cléry, Udo Kier, Anthony Steel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Corinne Cléry	...	O
Udo Kier	...	Rene
Anthony Steel	...	Sir Stephen
Jean Gaven	...	Pierre
Christiane Minazzoli	...	Anne-Marie
Martine Kelly	...	Therese
Jean-Pierre Andréani	...	Eric, master II
Gabriel Cattand	...	The commander
Li Sellgren	...	Jacqueline (a model)
Albane Navizet	...	Andree
Nadine Perles	...	Jeanne
Laure Moutoussamy	...	Norah, the maid
Henri Piégay	...	Master I
Alain Noury	...	Ivan
Florence Cayrol	...	Yvonne (as Jehanne Blaise)

Storyline

The beautiful O is taken by her boyfriend, Rene, to a bizarre retreat, where she is trained in bondage and sexual perversion. Rene discharges a personal debt by transferring possession of O to his step-brother, Sir Stephen...

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Plot Keywords:

bondage | perversion | sexual perversion | photographer | black maid | 

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Taglines:

"O" is the mistress of all mistresses.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for explicit sexuality

Details

Country:

France West Germany Canada

Language:

French English Polish

Release Date:

14 November 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Story of O

Company Credits

Production Co:

A.D. Creation, S.N. Prodis, Somerville House

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 105 min (2000 uncut re-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of O was offered to Brigitte Fossey. She had an interview with Just Jaeckin but declined because of strong nudity.

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Connections

Featured in Tod eines Weltstars (1994)

User Reviews

For masochists only

I admit I know little about the S+M/B+D lifestyle, but if this is any indication, it must be kind of like being in a bad European "art" film. This is one movie that truly does not deserve its notorious reputation(either in the negative or positive sense). It's just your typical silly and pretentious 70's Eurotrash. It is slightly less boring than the director's previous "Emmannuelle" (1974) but only slightly. The lead (and only conceivable reason to watch this nonsense) is Corrine Clery,who was later a second-string Bond girl eaten by vicious dobermans in "Moonraker". Clery spends most of the movie naked and being whipped by various men and women. This certainly sounds pretty sordid, but the movie (tastefully?) never shows the whip actually hitting her. And though she is almost constantly being flogged, there never seems to be a mark on her on her perpetually on-display body. She is also passed around by various men, but the sex scenes are even more circumspect than the whipping scenes. I'd enjoy watching Clery doing anything naked(mowing the lawn, painting a fence, digging a garden), but there's just nothing especially exciting here. Mostly, the movie consists of cheesy dialogue and idiotic libertine philosophizing. I don't know if you have to be a sadist to enjoy it, but you definitely have to be a masochist to sit through it.