WRITER OF O (dir. Pola Rapaport) In 1954 the scandalous French erotic novel, THE STORY OF O, was published under the pen name Pauline Reage. Many were convinced that it was actually written by a man since the female protagonist voluntarily submits to the sadomasochistic sexual fantasies of numerous men over the course of the novel. The documentary film reveals that literary editor, Anne Desclos (who also used the pseudonym Dominique Aury), was the author, and she wrote the book to prove to her lover, literary critic and publisher Jean Paulhan, that women were quite capable of writing an erotic novel. Sections of the novel are recreated in the documentary, but I have trouble accepting the fact that sadomasochistic and submissive sexual behavior is so popular with women. To have women voluntarily submit to a man's more bizarre sexual wishes and desires seems like the most common male fantasy of all.
3 Reviews
Still Waters Run Very Deep Indeed
tpaigeba11 March 2008
Her real name was Anne Desclos, even though she used yet another pseudonym for this documentary as well as another when she revealed that she was the author of The Story of O, after all those important in her life had died. Even her name - like her fascinating book - was a puzzle, wrapped inside a riddle wrapped inside an enigma.
This documentary is a unique and freeing study of an average-looking woman blessed with great intellect and good humor who tells yet another story - the true story of her real love life where, as a younger woman, feeling the fading rays of love in her lover's eyes, creates one of the greatest, widely-read, shocking treatments of auto-eroticism and sadomasochism written within the past century.
She adores a brilliant, dashing critic and "literateur" Jean Paulhan only as a woman of her time adores - utterly, completely and ultimately desperately as he is married to a chronically ill woman whom he would never leave. He was a man who thrilled in exercising his wondering eye. Like Anne Desclos' father, Paulhan was a connoisseur of pornography.
Being a bibliophile, sometime during her early years she surreptitiously found her father's store of erotic novels, read them, and in time fell in love with the topic in general and one of his books in particular.
Some years later, fearing the loss of her lover and following his dictum that women were incapable of writing auto erotic and sadomasochistic novels she writes The Story of O, anonymously, and asked him to publish it for her. Although the world may see it otherwise, the documentary made it clear to me that the book was merely incidental to her great and unending love of him. She said she never loved before him nor after him - and while it may seem obvious, she never married.
That was back in 1954 and that book has not been out of print since. Very few books can boast a record of that sort. I haven't read it in some years yet I find it again to be a thrilling ride - and have started to read it again after viewing this wonderful documentary.
This documentary is a unique and freeing study of an average-looking woman blessed with great intellect and good humor who tells yet another story - the true story of her real love life where, as a younger woman, feeling the fading rays of love in her lover's eyes, creates one of the greatest, widely-read, shocking treatments of auto-eroticism and sadomasochism written within the past century.
She adores a brilliant, dashing critic and "literateur" Jean Paulhan only as a woman of her time adores - utterly, completely and ultimately desperately as he is married to a chronically ill woman whom he would never leave. He was a man who thrilled in exercising his wondering eye. Like Anne Desclos' father, Paulhan was a connoisseur of pornography.
Being a bibliophile, sometime during her early years she surreptitiously found her father's store of erotic novels, read them, and in time fell in love with the topic in general and one of his books in particular.
Some years later, fearing the loss of her lover and following his dictum that women were incapable of writing auto erotic and sadomasochistic novels she writes The Story of O, anonymously, and asked him to publish it for her. Although the world may see it otherwise, the documentary made it clear to me that the book was merely incidental to her great and unending love of him. She said she never loved before him nor after him - and while it may seem obvious, she never married.
That was back in 1954 and that book has not been out of print since. Very few books can boast a record of that sort. I haven't read it in some years yet I find it again to be a thrilling ride - and have started to read it again after viewing this wonderful documentary.
ready for submission
deetheslave3 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
i've seen "Writer of O" twice--both times were last night. Pola Rapaport weaves together the tale behind the erotic novel "Story of O" so amazingly that i had to watch it again the moment it ended. The documentary is the perfect combination of thought-provoking interviews and vignettes, peppered with narrated scenes of Dominance and submission from the book. One minute you're squeamish (which, depending on who you are, could be in a good or bad way) while watching reenactments of O being tied up and told she will be whipped. The next moment you're completely fascinated by what the 90-year-old author thinks about writing and truth. Then it heats back up again. It's like the best of both worlds: the excitement of porn coupled with the intelligence and insight of a documentary. But what's important isn't how much you can be turned on in a two-minute scene, it's really about unveiling the real author of the beautifully written book, 40 years after its initial publication. And on top of explaining the mystery behind the novel, it helps you further appreciate and understand "Story of O." Learning about the woman who found happiness in slavery talk as if her entire life was just ordinary makes her, the novel and the movie that much more extraordinary.
In the preface of the novel, Jean Paulhan writes that this work is one of the "most ardent love letters a man has ever received." But what he doesn't explain is that this powerful letter was actually written to him. And it was 1993 before it was publicly revealed as such, and 11 years after that that this film brought even more together. Pauline Réage had been a pen name for Dominique Aury, Paulhan's longtime mistress. She began writing her tale about O, who completely submits and becomes a slave to her Master, to keep Paulhan's interest--and because he didn't think she could do it. In her interviews in "Writer of O," Aury speaks softly about her love for Paulhan--about how she can't remember if she was with him for 11 or 14 years, but when he died her life was over. "Everything," she says, with a look that is unbelievably confident and secure, while sad at the same time. That's part of what makes Aury's interviews and writing so incredible. The subject matter is scandalous and sometimes shocking and upsetting, but for her that's just the way life is. The interviews from the people who knew her only solidify that, and make the documentary powerful and cohesive. Aury makes no apologies and speaks with a matter-of-fact ease--even though at the time of the interviews she was in her 80s, and four decades had passed since "Story of O." But by the way she remembers and speaks about her feelings and work, you would think she had scribbled the lines--in bed, with a pencil--just yesterday. It still seems fresh, and relevant and evolving, and, incredibly, so does the white-haired woman.
What's funny is that at the time of the movie she was so willing to spill all the details about the inspiration for the book, and her relationship with Paulhan. You would think that a woman with that conviction would have been outward about it from the beginning. But even from the start of the documentary, you just know that the reason she stayed hidden for so long was not because she was embarrassed or did not believe in what she wrote or didn't have anything to say. It seems to be the total opposite: she was so confident in her feelings and a woman's freedom from this kind of slavery and submission that she didn't have to placate her critics or answer to her fans--not until she was ready (and her parents were dead). Besides, Paulhan knew it was her, and that's all that ever mattered anyway. The film just let everyone else know that.
In the preface of the novel, Jean Paulhan writes that this work is one of the "most ardent love letters a man has ever received." But what he doesn't explain is that this powerful letter was actually written to him. And it was 1993 before it was publicly revealed as such, and 11 years after that that this film brought even more together. Pauline Réage had been a pen name for Dominique Aury, Paulhan's longtime mistress. She began writing her tale about O, who completely submits and becomes a slave to her Master, to keep Paulhan's interest--and because he didn't think she could do it. In her interviews in "Writer of O," Aury speaks softly about her love for Paulhan--about how she can't remember if she was with him for 11 or 14 years, but when he died her life was over. "Everything," she says, with a look that is unbelievably confident and secure, while sad at the same time. That's part of what makes Aury's interviews and writing so incredible. The subject matter is scandalous and sometimes shocking and upsetting, but for her that's just the way life is. The interviews from the people who knew her only solidify that, and make the documentary powerful and cohesive. Aury makes no apologies and speaks with a matter-of-fact ease--even though at the time of the interviews she was in her 80s, and four decades had passed since "Story of O." But by the way she remembers and speaks about her feelings and work, you would think she had scribbled the lines--in bed, with a pencil--just yesterday. It still seems fresh, and relevant and evolving, and, incredibly, so does the white-haired woman.
What's funny is that at the time of the movie she was so willing to spill all the details about the inspiration for the book, and her relationship with Paulhan. You would think that a woman with that conviction would have been outward about it from the beginning. But even from the start of the documentary, you just know that the reason she stayed hidden for so long was not because she was embarrassed or did not believe in what she wrote or didn't have anything to say. It seems to be the total opposite: she was so confident in her feelings and a woman's freedom from this kind of slavery and submission that she didn't have to placate her critics or answer to her fans--not until she was ready (and her parents were dead). Besides, Paulhan knew it was her, and that's all that ever mattered anyway. The film just let everyone else know that.
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