Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 9
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 84
In 1954, one of the most notorious erotic novels of the 20th century was published -- The Story of O by Pauline Reage, which chronicled in breathless detail the intense sadomasochistic relationship between a submissive woman and a dominant man. For many years, many believed that Pauline Reage was a pseudonym for a male author, but as it turns out that was only half true. In 1994, journalist John de St. Jorre, while researching a book on Olympia Press (the fearless French publisher who first
Unrated, 1 hr. 20 min.
Apr 1, 2005 Wide
May 16, 2006
Zeitgeist Films
All Critics (20) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (9) | DVD (2)
The real reason to see this slight but interesting documentary is to watch and listen to the radiant Aury.
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.
A dry compendium of talking-head interviews interspersed with lackadaisical dramatizations of scenes from the novel.
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.'
The mystery of sex is dwarfed by the mystery of what French intellectuals are talking about.
Pola Rapaport, the director of this hybrid 'dramatic documentary,' is fortunate to have Aury around to relate this fascinating history.
Rapaport intersperses her reflections and those of people who knew her with dramatizations.
An illuminating examination of censorship and sexuality.
[Aury] provides this talking-heads documentary with most of its vitality.
Haunting and ultimately profound.
Touching and sentimental.
[Rapaport's] slim but informative documentary combines interviews, archival footage and elegantly lurid enactments.
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.
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.'
The information is now stale news and the style of the documentary seems intentionally dry.
"The Writer of O" is a slight documentary about the "Story of O", the controversial erotic novel published in France in 1954 about a woman giving herself body and soul to her lover. Submission is in itself conservative and nothing new; the novel going so far outside the bounds of society was.(Dramatized scenes from
March 10, 2007Super Reviewer
"The Writer of O" is a slight documentary about the "Story of O", the controversial erotic novel published in France in 1954 about a woman giving herself body and soul to her lover. Submission is in itself conservative and nothing new; the novel going so far outside the bounds of society was.(Dramatized scenes from
March 10, 2007Super Reviewer
| 35% | The Hangover Part II |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 44% | Cowboys & Aliens |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 88% | Lady and the Tramp |
| 69% | A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas |
| 21% | Fireflies in the Garden |
| 45% | The Rebound |
Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip
What are his 10 best movies ever?
See the all-new action-packed trailer!
Five new Marvelous pictures