Could a good film on the Story of O be made today? (part 3 of 4)
Could a worthy film on the Story of O succeed now? I am certain. I have tried to argue it could have back then, in Just Jaeckin’s 70s. It can certainly succeed now. And closer to the mainstream. (Not by Just Jaeckin, not then, not now.)
Nudity is less of an issue now than it was in the 70s. BDSM is all but acceptable now. There is no soul in the Western world below 60 years of age that has not played with S&M or or at least considered it. The feminist aspect and/ or the political correctness? Above all I think it is the extreme apparent one-sidedness of the relationship between O and her men that is the issue, not so much the nudity and whipping.
On that count, I don’t believe the film could be made in Hollywood. Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut has been made on the edge of the Hollywood system and goes fairly far on the mental level. That level is the one that counts, be sure! Still, better examples are Patrice Chereau's Intimacy and its depiction of ruthless, loveless physical action, Catherine Breillat’s Romance X and its showing a woman that wants love, but also rough sex, which her man does not supply and she has get elsewhere, Michael Haneke’s The Pianist, about a surpressed woman, who engages a young man to dominate her - all 'European Cinema.'
On the count of nudity and above all given the extreme form the relationships in these films take, loveless, obsessive, it is without doubt that the Story of O can be done justice. Perhaps the physical torture must be suggested or shown with restraint, but that should not compromise the essence. Go Chereau Breillat, or Haneke!
Nudity is less of an issue now than it was in the 70s. BDSM is all but acceptable now. There is no soul in the Western world below 60 years of age that has not played with S&M or or at least considered it. The feminist aspect and/ or the political correctness? Above all I think it is the extreme apparent one-sidedness of the relationship between O and her men that is the issue, not so much the nudity and whipping.
On that count, I don’t believe the film could be made in Hollywood. Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut has been made on the edge of the Hollywood system and goes fairly far on the mental level. That level is the one that counts, be sure! Still, better examples are Patrice Chereau's Intimacy and its depiction of ruthless, loveless physical action, Catherine Breillat’s Romance X and its showing a woman that wants love, but also rough sex, which her man does not supply and she has get elsewhere, Michael Haneke’s The Pianist, about a surpressed woman, who engages a young man to dominate her - all 'European Cinema.'
On the count of nudity and above all given the extreme form the relationships in these films take, loveless, obsessive, it is without doubt that the Story of O can be done justice. Perhaps the physical torture must be suggested or shown with restraint, but that should not compromise the essence. Go Chereau Breillat, or Haneke!
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