The Story of O 2 (1984)

James Pembroke, a powerful industrialist, has become a nuisance to his rivals. That is the reason why they have decided to neutralize him. To this end they call on O, who has turned from ... See full summary »

Director:

Éric Rochat

Writers:

Dominique Aury (novel) (as Pauline Réage), Jeffrey O'Kelly (story)

Stars:

Sandra Wey, Rosa Valenty, Manuel de Blas

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandra Wey	...	O
Rosa Valenty	...	Dotty / Wife
Manuel de Blas	...	James / Husband-industrialist
Carole James	...	Carol / Daughter
Christian Cid	...	Larry / Son
Rubén Blanco
Eduardo Bea
Malgozarta Dobosz
Tomás Picó	...	Hans
Alicia Príncipe	...	Julia
Frank Sussman
Frank Braña
Catherine Basseti
Agustín Bravo
Walter Finley

Storyline

James Pembroke, a powerful industrialist, has become a nuisance to his rivals. That is the reason why they have decided to neutralize him. To this end they call on O, who has turned from victim to dominatrix. Her mission is to compromise not only James in person but his whole family as well. And to tell the truth, O does not find much resistance on her way...

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Plot Keywords:

bare breasts | voyeur | simulated blow job | female full frontal nudity | gay anal sex | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Julian Temple was originally slated to direct but was replaced by Éric Rochat.

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Quotes

'O': You think that is funny?
James Pembroke II: Yeeeesss!
'O': In this case, it is different; he only uses women as other men use men.
James Pembroke II: Why does he even bother?
'O': Have you tried?
James Pembroke II: No!
'O': You should: a woman you have f**ked might forget you: but a woman f**ked in the arse - never does.

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Connections

Follows Fruits of Passion (1981)

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Soundtracks

Never Will You Know
Written by Mort Shuman
Music by Stanley Myers
Vocal by Veronique Lortal

User Reviews

"The pain takes the sin away" – Oh, if only that were true...

I feel dirty. Not because of the genre... I knew that. No, on account of the content. Just because you're making a flick about S&M doesn't mean it has to be so seedy. As I explained in my review of the first one, I got the two on sale in a box-set(it was a deal, I swear...! For the original, anyway) which, inexplicably, claimed to hold "the entire television series", and the covers misrepresented the running time on both(100 minutes for this one) as an hour and a half, and the images on it were from the 1975 one, with one exception(that being the human chandelier in this; a woman hanging upside down, her hands holding a light-bulb that is switched on, a concept that makes no sense, as she would pass out from the blood all going to her head, and she would burn her hands on the heating ball in her hands... I get that it's a pain/pleasure thing, but you couldn't do it for very long, it honestly seems like far too much trouble for relatively little other than a picture that might stay with you). In fact, that's the one positive I can say for this, as it isn't particularly erotic; it can boast a handful of visuals that stand out, and a few of them are even attractive. None of them(as with everything else in this) have any emotional impact, however. A lot of this is weird, plain and simple. Like how the wife suddenly speaks Spanish for no readily apparent reason, or how she is so determined to prove that she doesn't care about her husband doing her that she does her nails as he does(!). That's outright silly. As another reviewer points out, the submission and domination(kudos to them for letting the women achieve that some in this, though) doesn't feel threatening(frankly, now and then, it's comical, as with other aspects of this that really shouldn't be). The version of this that I've got was made with them speaking English(seriously, the lip movements match up, unlike with the French dub also on the disc), in spite of the fact that every member of the cast(clearly all chosen based on how comfortable they were with the subject matter, and not talent) is rather uncomfortable speaking it. Botterweg, already a funny name, becomes hilarious because everyone who says it sounds like they have a mouthful of something they can't wait to spit out as they pronounce it. Why not call him something like, for example, Beauchamp? So they wouldn't sound awkward. That brings me to the numerous lapses in the quality of the technical production(this had a crew, right? Did they have training? The audio guy is making rookie mistakes). Heck, at its best, this is average. The cheesy music swells up to the point where it deafens out the on-screen performers(and with the thick accents, you can barely tell what they're saying a lot of the time already; I wouldn't have been able to had I not had subtitles) here and there. I refuse to call them actors, because if they are, the are adamantly against showing it on camera in this(wouldn't it be an interesting, ironic twist if they were?). They read their lines aloud, often with astounding stiffness, and whatever feelings they express are excessive, minimal and/or misplaced. Scenes from the far superior(...never thought I'd use those words about it) movie that precedes this are re-enacted with new faces and zero of the effect. This is about power struggles, albeit those looking for a proper exploration of such will(and should) watch something else. There is plenty of female nudity and sexuality(catering to several tastes... you have been warned) in this. I recommend this solely to those who must satisfy their curiosity. 1/10

Details

Country:

France Spain Panama

Language:

French

Release Date:

8 August 1984 (France)

Also Known As:

A História De O: Parte 2

Filming Locations:

France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bedrock Holding, Image Communication

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1