The Image (1975) User Reviews

"You're about to reap the fruits of your labor."

[ElijahCSkuggs · 7/10 · 17 November 2007]

So the question is, was Anne punished? Oh yeah. You can bet your ass Anne was punished in this movie. Young Anne is a bad little girl and you've got Sleazy Jean and Bossy Clair to tell her what's what. The Punishment of Anne aka The Image is a moderately sleazy film, but done in a sexy way. Usually when I think "sleazy" it reminds me of gritty, exploit flicks with a rape or two. But not here, TPoA has it's share of sleazy scenes, but overall like I said, it exudes more sexiness.

Not being a big fan of porn I really can't fill you in on any historical importance of this movie. I can't tell you if the main actors are famous porn & S/M stars. I can't even tell you if this is one of the better old school porns out there. Nevertheless I can tell you that this movie has a good amount going for it. For one, for me, this movie had me laughing. Quite a lot. For starters, to open the movie, you see Jean at a party making his rounds. But the funny thing about this scene is he'll just go up to one person at a time, say "Hello" and then a moment later say "Excuse me." "Hello.....Excuse me." Such silly behavior. One scene in particular where Anne is getting punished the first time by both Jean and Clair, Jean begins telling Clair to whip Anne in a rushed manner, and then a moment later he's laughing his head off in a insane manner. And I was laughing right along with him. To top that scene off, Jean looks down at Anne and says "You're about to reap the fruits of your labor." Now that line is pure gold. And like this comical yet sexy scene, the whole movie is filled with "too smart for it's own good" type of lines. There's are numerous scenes where you'll probably be shaking your head with a smile and this is where the movie shines brightest. But the movie does slow down towards the end with "harder" S/M scenes and this is where I got bored. If you're a big fan of porn or S/M you'll probably like this, but for me, they should have stuck to the "weird situation punishment".

Overall, I enjoyed The Punishment of Anne. Anne was played by a beautiful girl and Jean's dubbing, lines and expressions made me laugh at a good rate. The movie sometimes slows a bit between scenes, but if you have a funny bone for silly dialogue, you'll enjoy these scenes because Jean fills them with cheesy narration. So all in all, it was funny, sexy and pretty entertaining. The Punishment of Anne is a recommendable porno in my book.

S&M at the centre of things

[jaibo · 7/10 · 13 February 2010]

The Image, aka The Punishment of Anne, is one of those rare narrative films in the history of cinema to take sado-masochism at face value, offering it up to the viewer without judgment and placing it at the centre of the drama, rather than as a peripheral element in a genre story.

Based on a novel written pseudonymously by Catherine Robbe-Grillet (wife of Alain), The Image tells the story of a sophisticated French writer, Jean, who upon finishing a short story visits a literary soirée and renews his acquaintance with the ice-cool salon habitué Claire. Claire introduces him to her protégé, Anne, and it soon becomes clear that Anne is Claire's slave, trained like a dog to obey. Jean visits the Roseraie de Bagatelle with the two women, there witnessing the humiliation of Anne, whom Claire pierces with a thorn and makes squat on the ground to publicly urinate. A few days later, Jean runs into Anne in the street. The young woman is rude to him, so follows an extended period in which Claire offers Anne to Jean for punishment. Jean gets to enjoy the kinky games, in which Anne enjoys being publicly displayed, offered for sex with strangers, whipped and insulted. Things come to a head when Jean is invited into Clare's torture chamber, where Anne is pierced with hot needles and whipped on a medieval-looking contraption before being penetrated by Jean. Jean's missionary-position f**king of Anne is too much for Clare, who attacks him and drives him from the house. Anne announces that she is leaving Claire. The next morning, Claire visits Jean dressed as Anne and confesses her love for him after he orders her about and then screws her.

The enigmatic ending raises a number of questions as to what has gone before. Was Clare using Anne as a way of seducing Jean? When we first meet Clare, Jean's narration suggests that her invulnerable nature put paid to his desire for her – was Anne really a role Clare played all the while, an invention the two of them have come up with in order to make their relationship work? This makes retrospective sense of the early scene in which Clare shows Jean a number of images of Anne followed by an image of an unnamed other woman, who by implication is herself. Is the action of the film a visualisation of the content of their sado-masochistic game? This would suggest that the masochistic woman is a willed character the female subject in a heterosexual sex-game invents in order to satisfy her own and her partner's needs. It is also possible that the action of the film is the story which Jean says that he has just completed at the outset… Whichever is the case, the film is enough to give most mainstream and, especially, liberal-minded viewers some qualms. There is no hardcore penetration shots, but there is non-simulated fellatio, cunnilingus and urination. The torture sequences are probably simulated, yet they pack a visceral intensity which may well have physical and emotional affects on the viewer, as well as raising various issues of feminism and power in representational and actual sado-masochism. The film is beautifully shot and directed by one of Metzger, one of erotic cinemas most advanced and professional stylists, but its visual beauty and technical acumen won't story some commentators dismissing the film as mere filth. Yet the film deserves to be treated as a serious cinematic account of a type of sexuality which may not be mainstream but which many viewers, male and female, will have an attraction towards. The film is offers both a turn-on for those viewers and a view of the dynamics of S&M relationships for anyone interested.

As a piece of 1970s cinema, the film now offers some amusement in terms of its costumes and music. Yet some of the images are intense and almost surreal in their power – Anne urinating on the rose, or erotically fingering a rosebud, are moments which offer a cinematic equivalent of the writings of Bataille or even the paintings of Georgia O'Keefe. As one of the few Golden Age of Porn available in a remastered DVD with an excellent transfer in a widescreen aspect ratio (Synapse's 2002 edition), it does offer a particularly good insight into the possibilities that 70s narrative porn were exploring in terms of hardcore elements combined with mainstream production values.

The Art of Arousal

[itamarscomix · 7/10 · 9 July 2012]

There's no point in serious argument about whether or not The Image is pornography, because it clearly is. Though it may not be considered hardcore pornography in the sense that there's no penetration shown on-screen, the sexual content is more explicit and shocking than any porn you've ever seen, to the point of going beyond arousing and into repulsive.

But The Image is also unmistakably art, and it's one of the few films that managed to merge the two successfully, much more so than the soft erotic dramas which were a dime a dozen in the 70's and 80's. Rather than just romanticizing sex, The Image is a disturbing and intelligent film about domination and sexual psychology, and in between the sex scenes you'll find surprising amounts of character development and a tight script (excluding the god-awful narration, which I could really do without); add to that excellent acting from the three leads - especially Rebecca Brooke, who truly sells her performance with her shockingly convincing face and body language (not to mention how gorgeous and sensual she is), and gorgeous cinematography which juxtaposes the brutal violence of the acts with the pastoral and serene French backdrops, to a truly eerie and enticing result.

It goes without saying that The Image isn't for everyone. It succeeds as pornography - being enticing and arousing even for those with barely even a fleeting whimsical interest in S&M - but it's also very disturbing and difficult to watch. But if you can stomach it, it's definitely recommended.

Very erotic

[wade1979 · 15 May 2003]

I bought several erotic movies for my girlfriend and me and out of all of them I have found this one to be the best so far. The DVD has some scenes where there are lines in the picture but they do not take away from the movie, for being such an old movie it transferred well to DVD. I have to admit that I did not think that the movie would get so explicit in some of the scenes, but I think that just made it even better.

If you want a very erotic movie then this one is great. There are some scenes that are a little annoying, like screaming for five or so minutes, but overall it is great. I would not buy it if you are looking for a porno, but there are several scenes that you would see in a porno.

THE IMAGE (Radley Metzger, 1976) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 22 August 2007]

I had first watched Metzger’s most mainstream film, the Richard Gordon-produced all-star remake of the venerable horror classic THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1979); while in Hollywood early last year I rented his most highly-regarded film, the porn classic THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN (1976).

This one’s pretty much on the same level of the latter film, however, and about as graphic (which makes its DVD availability through a respectable albeit cult-oriented label like Synapse a surprising but certainly courageous move on their part). If anything, despite its analogous surface chic, the plot of THE IMAGE – adapted from a novel by Jean de Berg who, allegedly, was really Catherine Robbe-Grillet (wife of novelist/film-maker Alain Robbe-Grillet) – is darker and more intriguing!

It also benefits from concentrating on the perverse antics of its central trio and rarely involves other characters; situations are clearly identified by intermittent chapter headings and plot development is usually restricted to voice-over delivered by the male lead – though all of this eventually leads to repetition (which is, perhaps, inevitable in sex films)! Again, the music emerges to be a major asset, as are the attractive Parisian locations (though, here, Metzger plays a little too obviously with phallic symbols!). As was the case with STORY OF O (1975), too, the female casting is dead-on but the male lead is rather bland (the director clearly saw other attributes in him).

The best scenes here would be: the young girl’s humiliation in a public garden by her demanding mistress, the first intense sexual encounter among the protagonists, the equally arousing three-way fling in the booth of a lingerie shop involving the younger members of the depraved trio and a sexy salesgirl, and the excruciating climactic bondage in the so-called Gothic Chamber. Other scenes in which the sex is carried out in a subtle manner but in full view of the public (including one where the young girl’s private parts are stuffed with food by her companions!) don’t work so well. The ending, too, is a disappointment: the women, suddenly and inexplicably, turn on the man – after which the young girl leaves for good; the older woman eventually visits the man at his house and the two make love for the first time (which suggests that he had wanted her all along, despite his statement to the contrary at the very start of the picture!).

Well done for it's time.

[digger-06358 · 7/10 · 12 June 2019]

Considering that this film was made in 1975 it shows more brutality than I had expected. The story itself is paper thin. What these characters do besides their chosen lifestyle doesn't seem to be of any importance to the story. Anne is a very pretty and obvious object of desire for her Mistress and male friend. Claire is a rather off-putting woman that enjoys abusing Anne. Jean is the guy that provides the male sex object. Anne is abused and humiliated in a number of ways by both of her "lovers". The S&M/bondage/dominance scenes are at times brutal yet likely accurately portrayed. More brutal than anything else I have seen from the mid 70's.

If you are looking for something sexy and/or kinky then this might be for you. As seen by the other reviews some really like it and some hate it. The production values and the acting are good.

Classy

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 1 December 2023]

The Image AKA The Punishment of Anne was based on L'Image, a high class dirty book if there ever was one. According to the Rialto Report, it was written by "Jean de Berg, later to be revealed as the pseudonym of Catherine Robbe-Grillet, a mysterious French writer, photographer, and actress of Armenian descent, who was also married to the French writer and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet."

Broken up into ten chapters, this is the story of Jean (Carl Parker), an older writer who has come to Paris and who soon meets an old friend by the name of Claire (Marilyn Roberts). He's soon part of her world of BDSM along with her younger partner Anne (Mary Mendum, Metzger's girlfriend at the time, she would also appear in several Joe Sarno movies).

What's really interesting in the above-mentioned Rialto Report article is that beyond the interiors being shot in a property owned by Roy Cohn was that none of the leads believe they performed any of the sex in director Radley Metzer's first hardcore film.

This was way rougher than many were ready for, even in the Golden Age, but it retains its classy feel despite of that. Just like The Score, Metzger shows a side of the bedroom that many even today don't want to see or even discuss.

Pornography Disguised in Art

[claudio_carvalho · 1/10 · 22 April 2012]

In Paris, the writer Jean (Carl Parker) meets his former affair, Claire (Marilyn Roberts), in a party. Claire is with a girlfriend, the model Anne (Mary Mendum), and invites Jean to meet them on the next day. Claire offers Anne, who is her humiliated slave, to Jean and the trio begins a sadomasochist relationship with kinky sex.

I bought the DVD "The Image" expecting to see an erotic art movie. However, it is actually porn with fellatio, urination, bondage and humiliation without any story disguised in art. My concept of art is very different from what I have just seen in this movie. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "A Imagem" ("The Image")

One of the Best...

[angie_jacobi · 9/10 · 21 June 2005]

This was my first S&M movie. Found by accident and watched it over and over, until I had to take it back. It is very erotic, and definitely a must see! I was happy to find it for sale so I can add it to my Library. If you are a Metzger fan you will want to see this movie. It changed the way I thought about sex, and opened up so many new avenues to explore. I have looked for this movie for about 5 years. I wanted my husband to see it. The Punishment of Anne takes you on a ride through the erotic tales of Dominace and submission. It is a wonderful ride. If you are new to the B&D scene, this is a good movie to start with. It isn't too much, but it is enough to wet your appetite and you will be back looking for more. It will quicken your heart rate, and put you in the right mood. I say it is a must have!!!

A romantic S/M story

[ee-films-director · 4/10 · 25 January 2006]

A romantic S/M story, that is rather elegant filmed and show naughty games with a beautiful young lady... Yes, she look a lot more lovely, than the bad picture on the DVD's front cover.

But this film is partly too slow, has only a few rather interesting scenes, some S/M scenes are actually silly (type not authentic) and the deeply fascinating masterpiece "Histoire d'O" is dramatically better in every way, even if that one show mush less explicit ordinary sex and even if many critics seem to regard this film, as the ultimate S/M erotica! In other hand, is the basic story more realistic and possible a slightly better introduction to S/M games, compared with "Histoire d'O" and the film may be worth a second view...

One of a Kind

[YAS · 8/10 · 13 November 2002]

THE IMAGE is a disturbing, erotic, scary, elegant movie that probably only Radley Metzger could have made. Most directors of 'erotica' concentrate on gynecological close-ups to the exclusion of all else; Metzger's hallmark has always been to tell the story and explain the characters by relying as much on the actors' eyes as on the dialogue. The S&M scene is as alien to me as peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwiches (which I am also told some enjoy), but in THE IMAGE I can see the gamesmanship, the role-playing and the unspoken psychological leveraging that makes it all so compellingly complex. Would I show this film to Grandma? Uh-uh. But then, that's just MY grandma, who knows, yours may have a side you never suspected. This film is hot, fascinating, and, in this gorgeous and UNCUT (thank you, thank you!) video transfer, stunningly beautiful as well.

Well, chick looks good.

[alexferdman-98602 · 3/10 · 6 February 2020]

The producer try to produce message or maybe not but chick looks good anyway. As action is supposedly in Paris, France it hides lack of imagination. As usual for nonsense nobody work, everybody having good time except me expecting imagination, plot, music--basics, but, luckily, I downloaded it for free proving you get what you paid for. Yes, La Bonne is much better as any Italian flick in general.

The Image

[Michael_Elliott · 17 May 2012]

The Image (1975)

*** (out of 4)

Jean (Carl Parker) runs into an old friend (Marilyn Roberts) at a party and soon she's teaching him about her slave Anne (Rebecca Brooke) and before long both are taking part in the S&M practices. Radley Metzger's erotic film isn't going to be for everyone but those who enjoy watching these older adult movies should find this one here to have quite a few good touches. Metzger would push the hardcore genre more mainstream a couple years later with THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVER and while this film here isn't nearly as good you can still see the blossoming of the young director as he was experimenting with more erotic films. I think the best thing about this movie is the direction by Metzger because he certainly isn't just trying to deliver some sort of bump and grind movie and instead he's pushing something more classy. Now I'm not going to sit here as some sort of snob and say this is better than your typical porn movie because it isn't. Those mindless sex pictures serve their purpose and I think a film like this one has its own purpose so comparing the two or ripping one while praising the other would be pointless. There's no doubt that this movie is extremely well made and there's a certain craft and style to appreciate. This is especially true with the editing, which really takes the movie to a whole new level. The way the sex scenes were edited gave them a certain atmosphere and really made you feel the dirty, erotic sense to all of it. The three actors all do fine work with their roles but it's doubtful people are coming to this for performances. I'm sure some might find some sort of message but to me THE IMAGE was simply a well-made porn film and there's nothing wrong with that.

wooden, cheesy, without chemistry

[murfit · 5/10 · 12 April 2016]

I feel like I have to put something against all the glowing reviews of this film. I acknowledge that it has to be seen in the context of its time, when it probably wasn't possible to produce erotica above the level of B-movies, but still the film is far from being a masterpiece.

The cinematography is adequate, but nothing special. The soundtrack and voice-over narration are cheesy and uninspired. The performances of Carl Parker and Marilyn Roberts are quite wooden. Parker appears more like a brute than a writer and refined member of society, and Roberts is not only cold but also utterly unerotic. Mary Mendum's performance is better, and it is the only thing that carries the movie, in some of her scenes I actually believe her being submissive. But there are other scenes, especially when she lingers ponderingly in front of the cupboard holding the instruments of her torture, where it remained completely mysterious to me what is supposed to be going through her mind.

But the main thing, and to me fatal for an erotic movie, is the lack of chemistry between the protagonists. Anne gets off on pain, but she seems to be indifferent as to who inflicts it on her, and Claire gets off on inflicting pain, but she doesn't seem to care about Anne. And I'm not saying I missed "romantic" or "cuddly" scenes – what I missed was actual interpersonal connection in the S&M scenes. There is a lot of skin contact, fellatio, cunnilingus, vaginal penetration, there is a lot of instrumentation being applied – but I never had the impression that these people truly touch each other. And while I understand Jean's sexual desire for pretty Anne, I don't see at all why in the end he would fall for Claire, who for all her libertinism comes across as extremely closed off.

Oh and finally: Didn't they seriously not have any nicer lingerie in 1970s Paris? Anne's garter belt looks like a few elastic bands stitched together by an amateur.

Metzger at his finest!

[dekkard8 · 10/10 · 1 September 2002]

Arguably the finest S/M movie ever made, Radley Metzger's 'The Image'(aka The Punishment of Anne) tells of Jean, a writer who meets an old friend, Claire, at a party and is soon drawn into her world of S/M along with her slave, Anne. Based on the French novel 'L'image' by Jean de Berg, a nom de guerre for Catherine Robbe-Grillet, this may be Radley (Score!, Therese and Isabelle, The Opening of Misty Beethoven)Metzger's best film. Beautifully filmed and acted and very erotic. If your up for some primo euro-erotica at its finest, look no further!

Whip It, Whip It Real Good!

[NoDakTatum · 4/10 · 5 October 2023]

Bondage, sadomasochism, whippings, leather, masks, pain, torture, submissiveness- if you are intimately familiar with these terms, you are probably intimately familiar with this film. Jean (Carl Parker) is a bachelor writer in Paris invited to a stuffy party. There he sees an old acquaintance, Claire (Marilyn Roberts), and Claire's "friend," Anne (Rebecca Brooke, credited under the name Mary Mendum). Claire and Anne are obviously involved somehow, and Jean's interest is aroused. The trio go out for a drink, where Claire treats Anne like an object. Anne rarely talks, and cowers under Claire's control. Jean later tags along with the pair to the Bagatelle Gardens, where Claire demands unusual requests of Claire, like breaking the rule against flower picking, and urinating in public. Anne is very short with Jean when he sees her later without Claire, which earns Anne a new set of punishments- namely being beaten. Thanks to Claire, we know that Anne gets sexually aroused when being treated this way. Claire orders Anne to satisfy Jean sexually (to which Jean offers no resistance) but, of course, the unnatural order of the sadistic triangle begins to break down.

"The Image" came out in the mid-1970's, when the line between mainstream and pornographic cinema was still blurred. Newspapers would critique works like this as if they were "regular" films, finding fault or celebrating positives. This film does have some beautiful cinematography, courtesy of Rene Lefevre. Metzger's films were known for their photography, much like David Hamilton's films. The screenplay, by a pseudonym-bearing John F. Goff, is a nightmare of terrible dialogue ("It was a look of one viewing a rerun of a successful film one had directed oneself, whose plot couldn't possibly have any surprises,"), and comically clumsy metaphors, such as Jean thinking back to Anne's public urination as giant water cannons explode behind him. Paris' many phallic monuments are also filmed in a certain way. Rebecca Brooke is gorgeous in the lead role. Unfortunately, her character is treated sub-humanly and the actress must engage in many an explicit sex scene with Parker. Parker's Jean is a blank. We never figure out why he joins in the humiliation of Anne, and his narration is both unnecessary and obvious. Roberts is also a bit of a mystery as Claire. While the two go about the business of mistreating Anne in public places, I wondered how we got here to begin with. I understand if Metzger wanted to keep the sex, and the relationships, anonymous, but this provides a coldness the film could not shake. Metzger's direction is imaginative, he was fond of shooting sexual situations vaguely blocked by objects in the foreground, but here he lets loose with sex and violence of the bondage variety. "The Image" is just that- pretty pictures of pretty people whipping each other during sexual sessions. Its infamy is understandable, but not deserved.

High class porn with lots of sleaze!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 7 September 2006]

What we have here is a classic slice of pornography, which is wrapped up in excellent production values in spite of the lurid and sleazy nature of most of it's action. Indeed, this film has just about everything a porn fan could want and more, as we get to watch the title character go through a number of 'pleasures' including whipping, public humiliation and mutilation. The film takes place in the upper society of France, and this serves in making the film more shocking as it features an eloquent voice over from the central character, which runs over most scenes, and offsets the gratuitous sex sequences nicely. The plot focuses on a man named Jean, who bumps into his friend Claire at a dull cocktail party that the pair are attending. It's not long before he is introduced to Claire's "friend" - the completely submissive Anne, who delights in bending to her mistress' will, even if that means having to urinate in public or undress in front of strangers. We then follow the trio through a series of sex scenes, most of which see the title character bear the brunt of the less savoury acts.

One thing I've learnt about porn flicks is that there often isn't much of a plot to speak of; and this one is no different, although the slim plot is excellently fleshed out by the three central characters; who are very different and equally interesting. The beautiful Rebecca Brooke takes the lead role and does well with it thanks to her good looks and willingness to show off her 'assets' at every opportunity. Marilyn Roberts plays the older, yet equally sexy woman who is also the labyrinth character of the piece and provides the film with a degree of intrigue. Carl Parker rounds it all off with a brilliantly sleazy performance, and his character actually goes through a bit of development, which is rather odd for a porn film. This film is really head and shoulders above its counterparts, as the production values are good and director Radley Metzger actually seems to care about how good his locations look, as he succeeds in capturing France at its best. Overall, The Punishment of Anne comes highly recommended to anyone that interested in high-class porn films!

Heat

[Linda_S · 10/10 · 12 December 2011]

I have Synapse's June 2011 DVD release and what a job they've done. I only wish they could do the same for another Rebecca Brooke (Mary Mendum) film from the same year Max Pécas 'Felicia' (1975)

Previous reviewers have touched on many aspects of this classic, I don't need to redo that, however I do need to emphasize that the acting by the very hot Marilyn Roberts (Claire) and slave Anne (Brooke aka Mendum) is phenomenal. Roberts can do more with her eyes than...well let's just say this woman can act. Brooke is a luscious slave girl who is absolutely believable, the male lead is nice looking and enjoys his work, the poor dear.

This is BDSM, D&s, SM, etc and it is very well done, best I've seen, Metzger is as good as there is. Brooke is the "hottie" but Roberts has the heat.

One of the best erotiques I own.

"Forgive me, for I know what I do"

[TerribleAngelRosary · 8/10 · 29 September 2007]

"The Image", or "The Punishment of Anne" is a sly piece of art porn that deals with the themes of sadomasochism and sex slavery ("She belongs to me" is the phrase that Claire uses to introduce her young, bisexual, submissive girlfriend to the sleazy Jean).

Though it could be worth it for the "gothic chamber" sequence alone, in which a not too slightly modified chandelier is used as an upper arts constrictor and both a cat o' nine tails and a set of needles have a prominent role, there come a shamelessly amusing biblical quote ("Forgive me, for I know what I do" before a whipping session, instead of "Forgive them, for they don't know what they do" before Christ's crucifixion!) and a very convincing Anne staring in a waiter's eyes while her two sadist friends fist f**k her under the gown and order the food.

Even though the narrating voice and the unnecessary oral sex got me really bored in the first place, and the ending is kind of disappointing (why not take the s and m thing to its extreme consequences?), the high entertainment value of some tricks, and the visual beauty and almost disturbing pace of the infamous torture chamber scene place this straight down on the annals of erotic cinema.

Somewhere between "Last Tango in Paris" and "The Story of O"

[lazarillo · 29 December 2006]

This movie falls somewhere between "Last Tango in Paris" and "The Story of O". It doesn't have the realism, the pathos, or the character development of the former, but it also isn't exactly an enjoyably silly sex fantasy like the latter. Like all Metzger films it is well-photographed and classy in a way, but it also contains some hardcore porn scenes which might leave a bad taste in some peoples' mouths (no pun intended).

The story is about a man who meets a jaded older woman who in turn introduces him to a younger woman "Ann" who she is training as a sex slave. Carl Parker, who also had a small part in Metzger's "Score", is pretty good as the man. The young woman played by the pseudonymous "Mary Medum" is also decent, even though she looks more like a young American "soccer mom" than an exotic Euro-beauty like Maria "Last Tango in Paris" Schneider or Corrine "Story of O" Clery. (Thus for me this movie was more of a fantasy of what I'd like to do to that idiot that nearly ran me off the road in her SUV last week while blabbing on her cellphone than it was a sex fantasy). The older woman, on the other hand, is pretty much a superfluous character--for some reason S and M seems a lot classier when it's a woman doing it to another woman at the behest of a man rather than a man directly doing it to a woman. (Not that this movie is too "politically correct" by today's standards--and thank god for that!)

I guess I'd recommend it, even though it's not that sexy on one hand, and pretty hard to take seriously on the other.

Probably the best and most beautiful film ever made about S&M

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 25 May 2017]

Writer Jean (an excellent performance by Carl Parker) gets reunited with aloof, but alluring old flame Claire (well played with steely resolve by Marilyn Roberts) at a posh party. Claire introduces Jean to her enticing, yet passive sex slave Anne (a remarkably brave and startling portrayal by the gorgeous Mary Mendum), which inspires Jean to become a willing participant in Claire and Anne's sadomasochistic games.

Writer/director Radley Metzger adroitly crafts a deliriously erotic and intoxicating atmosphere, makes nice use of various lovely Paris, France locations, and brings his usual sly wit and elegant style to the bold and absorbing premise. The three leads all do sterling work in their demanding roles. Fetching brunette Valerie Marron has a memorable small part as a salesgirl who happily engages in a steamy threesome with Jean and Anne. Robert Lefebvre's sumptuous cinematography presents a wealth of breathtaking visuals. Best of all, the character of Jean even embarks on an eye-opening journey of carnal self-discovery whereby he finds out that he has a natural penchant for the hard kinky stuff while the provocative story explores in shocking and unflinching detail the extremely fine line that separates pain and pleasure. A supremely exquisite, if overall unsettling 70's adult cinema gem.

Whips, chains, etc.

[Mr Roboto · 6 April 2002]

Okay movie starring Carl Parker, that swarthy-looking guy from Radley Metzger's SCORE, which was better than this. It's well-made, like all of Metzger's movies, but it's hard to like unless you're into this kind of subject matter. There are some pretty funny moments, though. I particularly liked the intentionally obvious Freudian imagery that keeps cropping up. Actually, the whole movie is about as cheerfully un-P.C. as they get. Only in the '70s...