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Movies / On DVD / Writer of O
Writer of O

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Writer of O (2005)

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Reviews Counted:18

Fresh:9

Rotten:9

Average Rating:5.4/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 80 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:May 4, 2005 Limited

Synopsis: Writer of O is a dramatic documentary on the long-hidden author of the world-famous, erotic novel Story of O. Known for forty years as Pauline Réage, the author chose at 86 to reveal herself as... Writer of O is a dramatic documentary on the long-hidden author of the world-famous, erotic novel Story of O. Known for forty years as Pauline Réage, the author chose at 86 to reveal herself as Dominique Aury, a mild-mannered literary editor for Gallimard, France's most prestigious publishing house. The contrast of her two disparate personalities forms the center of this hybrid film, which sets documentary footage of her and her contemporaries against dramatized scenes from her erotic novel and fictionalized scenes from her life during the period in which she wrote her scandalous book. The film treats the subjects of sex and love, literature, feminism, censorship, creativity and freedom. Central to the discovery of Aury's motivation for writing the book is the love story between her and her lover, the celebrated French man-of-letters, Jean Paulhan. Their clandestine affair inspired the book and is re-created here in moving scenes from Aury's essay "A Girl in Love." Major figures in the film include the audacious publishers Jean-Jacques Pauvert in France and Barney Rosset of Grove Press in the U.S. The British author and journalist, John de St. Jorre, author of a revelatory article in The New Yorker which exposed Aury, leads us through the story. Regine Deforges, the novelist and journalist who conducted a revealing interview with Aury in 1975, Confessions of O, re-imagines that conversation with actress Catherine Mouchet playing the role of Dominique Aury. Scenes from Story of O are also dramatized in the film, creating an atmosphere similar to that found at the chateau which Aury described in her book: frightening, visceral, mysterious, and profoundly erotic. -- © Zeitgeist Films [More]

Starring: Catherine Mouchet, Penelope Puymirat, Cyril Corral, Alain Rimoux

Starring: Catherine Mouchet, Penelope Puymirat, Cyril Corral, Alain Rimoux, Thierry de Carbonnieres, Jean-Yves Roan

Director: Pola Rapaport

Director: Pola Rapaport
Screenwriter: Pola Rapaport
Producer: Sylvie Cazin
Composer: Helene Blazy
Studio: Zeitgeist Films

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Release:

May 16, 2006

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Writer of O

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Rapaport intersperses her reflections and those of people who knew her with dramatizations.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
02/22/07
Rex Roberts
Rex Roberts
Film Journal International

An illuminating examination of censorship and sexuality.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
05/18/06
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

The real reason to see this slight but interesting documentary is to watch and listen to the radiant Aury.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
11/10/05
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Aury] provides this talking-heads documentary with most of its vitality.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
08/12/05
John Hartl
John Hartl
Seattle Times

Haunting and ultimately profound.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
08/11/05
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Because it doesn't have the heroic impact the filmmaker seems to have been looking for, she's forced to juggle, to diminishing returns. In the process, she raises more questions than she resolves.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
07/01/05
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
06/25/05
Boston Phoenix

A dry compendium of talking-head interviews interspersed with lackadaisical dramatizations of scenes from the novel.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
06/07/05
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It is a mash note from first-time filmmaker Pola Rapaport to Aury, but its attempts to dramatize passages of the book are at odds with Aury's advice that Story of O was a piece of writing 'not meant to be spoken.'

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/06/05
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Touching and sentimental.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
05/05/05
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
05/05/05
AV Club

[Rapaport's] slim but informative documentary combines interviews, archival footage and elegantly lurid enactments.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/04/05
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The mystery of sex is dwarfed by the mystery of what French intellectuals are talking about.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/04/05
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Pola Rapaport, the director of this hybrid 'dramatic documentary,' is fortunate to have Aury around to relate this fascinating history.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
05/04/05
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This most unfortunate film combines standard documentary techniques with maladroit dramatizations from the life of the author of Story of O.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/03/05
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Disappoints in its workmanlike approach to such fragrant material.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
05/03/05
Jessica Winter
Jessica Winter
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Had 'Writer of O' featured more of the engaging aged Dominique Aury and less pseudo-literary and -psychological speculation, it would have been on surer footing.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/26/05
Donald J. Levit
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

A so-so attempt to wring a personal documentary from a 10-year-old news story.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/14/05
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The interviews are marvelous. The luminous Aury is beautiful and charming at 90, and her matter-of factness blows away the mist of ideology that swirls around her 'little book.'

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
04/14/05
Jessica Bryce Young
Jessica Bryce Young
Orlando Weekly

The information is now stale news and the style of the documentary seems intentionally dry.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/31/05
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews
 
 
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