Outline of a good film about the Story of O (part 4 of 4)
After we established that no good film after “l’Histore d’O” currently exists, that is: good enough, and that a good one could have been made, certainly today, I want to be constructive and bring forward a specific idea for the film. I was talking to my friend James about the subject and the following idea has been jointly initiated.
The bulk of the film is a set of interviews with O by a series of interviewers, men and women, in differing styles and different settings, studio chat show, private conversation, outside, with and without audience. The interviews would cover the entire story, as we know it.
Some interviewers would be hard and judgemental, some soft and understanding, others sensationalist or aloof, feminist or male chauvinist. O meanwhile would be unmoved and consistent. She would answer each question, no matter how it was stated, no matter how crude, in the most natural of ways, with steady gaze. She would use coarse language, but never a coarse tone. She may show the whip or branding iron, a particular article of clothing or a marking disc. She would be candid, explicit, shameless, but never provocative, rather modest, girlish.
Visually, the film would present the various interviewers with their great variety of facial expressions and body language, uneasy, shocked, interested, fascinated, incredulous, condemning, understanding, wanting to intervene or convert etc. We would see extremely brief, 1 second, flashes of action cut in visually, the sound of the interview proceeding uninterrupted.
Between the interviews we would see played out key sections of the story, of 5-7 minutes each, such as the one I mentioned above, with the young couple visiting O at the Commander's party, and the one where she first arrives at Roissy, that where she sorts out her clothes in her apartment under orders from René, the scene in the little dungeon at the end of her first stay at Roissy, that where she is being used by Sir Stephen when Nora suddenly enters, a scene at Anne-Marie's, where she is first inspected by a fellow-woman, her branding, where she whips another woman and a number of other key scenes.
Afterwards I had to think of a film by Marguerite Duras I once saw, which I just remember as a man (Depardieu) and woman (Duras) narrating a story, with some minimalist supporting images. Fascinating, but for a very ‘elite’ audience. I am not stating that our idea goes to extremes in maximising the appeal. It will be a film for the somewhat educated mind. I am convinced meanwhile that our film has the potential to move any woman or man who appreciates the book.
The bulk of the film is a set of interviews with O by a series of interviewers, men and women, in differing styles and different settings, studio chat show, private conversation, outside, with and without audience. The interviews would cover the entire story, as we know it.
Some interviewers would be hard and judgemental, some soft and understanding, others sensationalist or aloof, feminist or male chauvinist. O meanwhile would be unmoved and consistent. She would answer each question, no matter how it was stated, no matter how crude, in the most natural of ways, with steady gaze. She would use coarse language, but never a coarse tone. She may show the whip or branding iron, a particular article of clothing or a marking disc. She would be candid, explicit, shameless, but never provocative, rather modest, girlish.
Visually, the film would present the various interviewers with their great variety of facial expressions and body language, uneasy, shocked, interested, fascinated, incredulous, condemning, understanding, wanting to intervene or convert etc. We would see extremely brief, 1 second, flashes of action cut in visually, the sound of the interview proceeding uninterrupted.
Between the interviews we would see played out key sections of the story, of 5-7 minutes each, such as the one I mentioned above, with the young couple visiting O at the Commander's party, and the one where she first arrives at Roissy, that where she sorts out her clothes in her apartment under orders from René, the scene in the little dungeon at the end of her first stay at Roissy, that where she is being used by Sir Stephen when Nora suddenly enters, a scene at Anne-Marie's, where she is first inspected by a fellow-woman, her branding, where she whips another woman and a number of other key scenes.
Afterwards I had to think of a film by Marguerite Duras I once saw, which I just remember as a man (Depardieu) and woman (Duras) narrating a story, with some minimalist supporting images. Fascinating, but for a very ‘elite’ audience. I am not stating that our idea goes to extremes in maximising the appeal. It will be a film for the somewhat educated mind. I am convinced meanwhile that our film has the potential to move any woman or man who appreciates the book.
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