The movie was great but what's with the casting?.............. =____=
They could have chosen a ***way*** more beautiful actress instead of this dumb brunette with no breast... I know it's an old 70's movie, but I wish a more gorgeous and sexy girl was in the lead role, it would have been a lot better!
(after all, this movie is about showing a girl nude, so the more beautiful the better!! ^____^)
Well, I guess it is a question of taste because I personally enjoy this film BECAUSE of the choice of a wonderfully sexy actress, with perfect curves, wonderful eyes and a look (specially in the opening car scene when she accepts to being tied up) completly adorable.
Perfect curves?? O_o
Corinne Clery (the actress) is the typical french actress of the 70's, she is OK, but to 2004 standards, she is far from perfect actually! Her chest is kinda flat and her curves in general should be more round.
Anyway...
Such movie would have ROCKED with a truly gorgeous actress in the likes of Pamela Anderson (or even Pam herself ^^), while it's "only" good in its current format. I think a lot of viewers would agree with me. The choice of the girl is the most important thing in this movie since she has to appear nude all the time.
[deleted]
Pamela Anderson?
I think you and your taste in women need locking away in a deep, dark place and for the key to be thrown away.
Now, Harry, Pammy was quite pretty when she was young (she was one of Olivia's favorite models for a while). It wasn't until she abused herself for over a decade that she started to look more like a sex doll than a woman.
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
You are a *beep* idiot.
1. The movie was MADE in the 70's., not 2004. Why would anyone consider 2004 standards when selecting an actress.
2. Clery is gorgeous, and a Bond girl.
3. Anderson is a cow and sucks rock stars and others. The only talent she has.
Kinda FLAT? You're obviously a twentysomething "forever alone" hooked on internet porn and video games with GIGANTIC FAKE breasts, like "Heppy Pam". YUCK.
Ms. CLery has VERY generous REAL breasts of perfect size and shape, and a VERY shapely body.
You will probably never see enough real women naked to know the difference, but now you know.
Corinne Clery doesn't have a nice body 😕 ... "2004 standards" 😱 ... "the likes of Pamela Anderson" 😨. What a limited and warped world the original poster must be trapped in.
shareI think that Corinne Cleary was a GREAT choice! She's sexy, has a beautiful face, and a very attractive body. I don't need some pumped up, silicone inflated, bimbo like Pam Anderson in a movie like this. IMO, she has already had more exposure than she deserves!
shareDon't you think Corinne Clery is just "too common" to stand in such a role?
She is pretty but I think she rather could be anyone's "best neighbour" but definitely not the girl you would expect from a movie like this... And I'm sure Pam Anderson (or a similar girl) would have brought the movie to a much wider audience...
Since I haven't seen any other women on this particular board, Jonathan, I thought perhaps I could explain this to you a little better than the guys have. What I think they haven't recognized is that you misunderstood the point of the movie. That is certainly no failing on your part, because to understand this movie it helps to have had experience in this particular sexual sphere, which most people have not. I don't say one NEEDS to have experienced it to understand, only that it would HELP.
First off, Corinne Clery, though lovely, is not incredibly striking. She is beautiful, but in a subtle and refined way, rather than a poster-girl sort of way (I think this is what you meant when you said she looks "common") But that is EXACTLY the point. The movie is not "all about" the heroine being naked as you said above, at least not in the way it seems you meant it; in other words, the primary purpose of the movie is NOT to serve as wanking material. Now, don't get me wrong; I have nothing against porn, but this is not it. The movie is erotic and titillating to be sure, but not intended to serve as primary visual sexual stimulation in the way that porn is. This movie is about a woman's sexual odyssey, her exploration of a "forbidden" and misunderstood realm of human experience. That may sound all artsy-fartsy, but the important point is that she IS sort of a girl-next-door. It is NOT just striking fantasy-girls who have this sort of experience; it could be ANYONE. I daresay the majority of sexually mature women have thought about, considered or experimented with bondage (just as they do with bisexuality), even if only to reject it as "not their cup of tea." Obviously, "O" is immersed to a far greater degree than most, but no one could tell that by looking at her on the street. You, the viewer, are meant to think about that...how many of the girls I encounter on the street are "into" bondage, to a greater or lesser degree? That should titillate you far more than a few minutes of extra nudity would!
Second, the movie is a woman's journey and, I think, intended to appeal more to women (this is a gut feeling based on the facts that 1) they stick very close to the book, which was written by a woman; and 2) that most of the people I know who REALLY like this movie are female). Though I certainly know some guys who like it a lot, I think they don't quite get it to the same degree women do. Just my experience, of course. I will tell you this, though; if you want to truly experience this movie, watch it with your girlfriend. Before you do that, observe these caveats, though: 1) Don't try it if she's a feminist or otherwise very narrow-minded; 2) Don't bother if she's under 25 unless she is very sexually experiened (before meeting you, I mean) and you have a LOT of respect for her maturity. If she's within the target audience, I believe you will come to understand that the casting (and most everything else about this film) is just fine for what it's trying to achieve.
You have written a wise and caring commentary. I very much appreciated it. Thank you.
shareYou're very welcome. I am always glad to be of service!
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
"You're very welcome. I am always glad to be of service!"
So I see you've thrown caution to the wind! :)
Naughty thing. You know very well I meant that idiomatically!
At least, I think I did...
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
I have to agree with your comments on this movie, I first saw this movie in 1981 and I must say that I have been very intrigued with the content of the film, being that it was my very first porn type video to watch, with five of my other cousins back then and we can still recant that what we saw was so sexy and exciting that it changed our views on what we wanted from women.
I looked at them differently from that point on seeing that I was to start ninth grade later on that same year. I would still watch this movie today as it is about the girl next door and not the hot bodied stars of today as how many of us have those types living next to us. Kudos on your interpretation of this movie, it was dead on.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Brian!
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
You make some really great points about the book. I haven't seen the movie yet but I will soon. BTW I'm a feminist, enjoy light bondage (it is called play for a reason) and I loved the novel. But I won't watch this with conservative minded people but maybe with my boyfriend...he's loves kink.
What most don't know is the novel was written by Pauline Reage as a series of 'love' letters/serial designed to convince the editor guy she liked that a woman could indeed write erotica and write it well. I think that's a nice little feminist ooomph there!
No kidding! I wouldn't cross the street to see Pamela Anderson tied up and whipped. Damned teenagers.
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
i totally agree.
this movie isnt about tits and arse. its something alot deeper and more sensual.
[wake up screaming from the american dream]
I gotta agree that Corinne Clery was a remarkable find by the casting director, and the perfect choice for "O".
No less than Playboy magazine termed Clery as "classically beautiful", and her natural beauty and class fit matched with what readers envisioned from Pauline Reage's classic novel.
There hasnt been a post here for a while but i thought i'd try -
i love the story of O. i'm a 19 year old, experienced, i might add, female. The Story of O was the first BDSM related book i ever read (a birthday present from my first Master) and i loved it. It made me laugh and cry, as did the film. i love the part where she is at Ann-Marie's and the total 'innocence' feel to it, all the childishness and playfulness yet the deeper, darker meaning underneath.
What i appreciate most in the book/film is the fact the it is always consensual. even if it doesnt always seem so, O is always given the choice to opt out as it were, but she chooses to stay and experience things that she otherwise never would.
i've read the second book and i wasnt too impressed - ImO it should not have been written. Also the fact that the first book had two beginings and two endings was odd. i dont think i like the one where O dies. The film ending was not one of the book endings, but it was ingenious, it really worked and it also gave a feel to the "topping from the bottom" topic.
Corrine Cleary is great, her eyes just have "that look" - anyone that has expereinced anything similar will understand that.
i love the French version - it just isn't the same dubbed in English, and you don't get that same feeling from it. But i have to watch the dubbed one now because my other half can't read fast enough for subtitles :(
sami
Taller Mountains May Be Harder To Climb But The View From The Top Is Always Worth It
I'm glad to see another woman on this board, especially one who's "been there" as well. I read Story of O when I was about your age, and came by my copy in much the same fashion!
"I've read the second book and i wasnt too impressed - ImO it should not have been written. Also the fact that the first book had two beginings and two endings was odd. i dont think i like the one where O dies. The film ending was not one of the book endings, but it was ingenious, it really worked and it also gave a feel to the "topping from the bottom" topic."
I've never been able to find the sequel, but I really wasn't looking too hard. And I completely agree with you on the movie's ending; I read in the IMDB reviews that many of the reviewers don't like the ending; all I can say to that is, they obviously haven't been there! Anyone who has can recognize the power of the movie ending.
And the Anne-Marie episode is my favorite part, as well.
Hope to see you around the boards again, Sami!
O
I don't know if you're aware that photographer Doris Kloster published the 160-page hardcover book "The Illustrated Story of O" in 2001, which (according to Amazon.com's description) includes over 50 photos shot in Paris environs.
While its List price was $50, it can be purchased from Amazon.com for $31.50 + shipping; as well as from other sources for an even lower price.
While I can't argue a matter of taste (or lack thereof), I have to disagree with what many of you have said. Corrine Clery was a very beautiful woman and only good thing about this movie. And it's beyond me why anyone would complain that a naturally beautiful woman has natural breasts rather than the surgically-enhanced DDD silicone bra-busters all the Hollywood bimbos are sporting today. (I sometimes think some of the people on this website have been watching too many movies and have forgotten what real breasts look like). Besides there's more to a sexy actress than her breasts--there's the rest of her body (of course), her face, the way she moves, the way she talks (irrevelant in a dubbed European movie I guess), not to mention a little thing called acting. Clery could actually act. Check out an Italian film called "Hitch-Hike". She was naked quite a bit in that one too, but she was really good in it. I couldn't imagine Pamela Anderson-Lee-Rock-Whatever in any kind of halfway serious dramatic role (and, no, "Baywatch" and the sex videos she has appeared in with various no-talent musicians do not count as halfway serious dramatic roles). If anything, Clery should have made a "better choice" of a movie to debut in than this pretensious piece of Eurocrap.
shareBy to-day's standards Corinne is rare. With all those cut-up, botoxed hack jobs in Hollywood, very few are naturally this beautiful.
Do The Mussolini! Headkick!
Corinne Clery is beautifull, marvellous, a real goddess of submission (first) and domination (after her training; be sure for this!) The delicate and high-class elegance of her face and her body is uncomparable! And her grins, full with pain and (not encrypted) desire and last, when the whip smacks, again and again, her naked flesh! And her full-confident and hedonic smile when she whips mercilessly, as a mistress herself now, her slut slave!
From the very moment I've seen the movie I can't stop fantasizing Mistress Corinne Clery make me her slave! Ordering me to kneel and kiss her feet! Smacking me and whipping me, again and again! Oh, Mistress!! I beg you before your feet; Give me the honour to serve you as your slave, to be useful for you to show upon me your domination, your power in all your goddess glory!!
Pardon me, but were you watching the same movie as the rest of us?
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
i dont think he quite got it babe!! LOL
I touched the soil and he loved me back
[deleted]
Calm down, Daniel honey. Different men find different kinds of women attractive, and thank God for that! If every man liked the typical Hollywood tall skinny blonde, I'd be out of a job. Of course Pam Anderson is completely wrong for the role of "O", but that just shows that the original poster didn't "get" the movie. That's no big surprise; it seems most of the people who wrote the reviews for this movie here on IMDB didn't get it, either. Have you read any of them? A chorus of clueless cretins trying to convince everyone of their knowledge of film. It's amazing, really!
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
Actually if a remake was to be done who would you cast as O?
I Personaly think the actress who played Ralph Fiennes's maid in Schindler's List would have been a good choice for she is a gorgeous lady and had a tremendously difficult scene in the film in which she came off quite admirably.
Nicole Kidman also has "something in the eye" of the perfect submissive.
What would be your choices?
I wouldn't do a remake. I believe that remakes are a Hollywood copout, an easy way to make more money. If the first movie version of a book or script is badly flawed then a remake is understandable, but this movie was a good adaptation of the book and therefore no remake is necessary.
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
I'd like to do a competely original movie but in the same vein. "The Life of Miss O". I have some wonderful ideas for the script. Let's do lunch!
shareclery was great
shareMiss O ... I think I love you!
I agree with everything you have said on all of these posts.
Hmm, maybe you can mentor me.
O was phenomenal, and many times I imagine myself as O. Oh, so many times.
How can it be that I...didn't exist before...and...someday, I...will no longer be who I am?
[deleted]
No, he missed it entirely, she is a SUBMISSIVE, not a DOMINANT.
He totally screwed up.
Jonathan, we had the same sort of discussion on the Secretary board about Maggie Gyllenhaal, who played Lee. But one could say about O is the same thing most of us said about Secretary. A big part of the charm of the leading ladies was that they were not typical Hollywood "glam pusses." They looked "ordinary" enough that women could identify with them and I suppose men could imagine knowing them. The fact of the matter is that both actresses had perfect bodies. Their stomachs were perfectly flat and there wasn't an ounce of flab anywhere on them.
What is this thing men have with big tits? You know, when they were making Deep Throat, one of the men financing the movie objected to Linda Lovelace because she wasn't a big-titted blonde. The other producer, who fought to use Linda, argued that her sweetness and innocence were what made her a great choice for that role. Guess what? Deep Throat was a huge success with Linda Lovelace. Blondes with big tits are such a cliche in the field of erotica. I also agree with the poster who would have liked to show more variety in body types in the women of Roissy. But that's show-biz, I guess. Only perfect bodies will be used.
O wasn't described as breath-takingly beautiful in the book. In fact, she wasn't described physically at all. There is a hint that she didn't consider herself a great beauty. I mean the place that talks about her attraction to beautiful women. At one point, the narration mentions something about how one of the things she liked about them was they seemed too beautiful for her or something like that. I don't have the book handy to look it up. Jacqueline was supposed to be more beautiful. She was a model and O was a photographer, after all. I thought the girl who played Jacqueline was dazzling.
Terry
Your soul and your body are your own, and yours to do with as you wish.
[deleted]
Everyone has their opinion, and I think Clery is gorgeous. She's seems even more beutiful in Hitch Hike.
sharemiss clery is perfect but i also think sylvia kristel would also make a great O.
i woulc also consider carol bouquet for the role.
The notable name missing from caylor1964's list was Isabelle Huppert (sorry Pammy fans). She is a superb actress, a strange mixture of "mousy" and strong character, yet often incredibly attractive. She would have been the perfect age, about 22, when "O" (or do I mean "o" Miss O?) was made, and had already appeared in top films such as "César et Rosalie", "Les Valseuses".
shareZooey Deschanels would have make a perfect fit for the role of O. She has the most wonderful eyes one's could have. And this role is all about the way you play with your eyes.
shareThere were other choices in 1975 if one wanted to cast a hot(ter) looking babe as "O". What about Barbara Bach - or Catherine Bach? Or if you're willing to entertain redheads how about Annette O'Toole, or Leigh Taylor-Young? How about Linda Harrison or Racquel Welch? Maybe Victoria Principal? Or how about Jenny Agutter - she could definitely have rocked the role of "O". Of course Corinne Clery was excellent in the role she took; but a man can dream. Pam Anderson would never have done the role of "O" justice; wrong character entirely. Teri Hatcher could probably have pulled it off. Olivia D'Abo would have been an interesting choice if one favored blondes. And I'd really love to have seen what Traci Lords could have done with the role.
shareanother actress I thought would be good was raquel welch
shareRaquel has never played a submissive that I can recall, but she DID play a dominatrix (of sorts) called "The Priestess of the Whip" in a cameo role in The Magic Christian: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064622/
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
Raquel has never played a submissive that I can recall, well so? shes an actress she can "act" the part. that remindes me of a interview with an actor who was playing a parent in a movie and the interviewer asked him how he can play a parent when he isnt one himself. He replied "well so what i can just act. people play murderers all the time in hollywood and they don't need to go out and shoot a few guys just so they can get the part in the movie " soooooo wether raquel is a submissive or dominant who knows ? but I still say she would have been pretty good in the part
shareOh, I'm sure she could; I just wanted to get in a plug for The Magic Christian! But your response reminds me of a funny story about the filming of Hitchcock's Marnie, with Tippi Hedren playing opposite the young Sean Connery. Hedren came to Hitchcock and said, "Marnie is supposed to be frigid, but have you SEEN this guy?" To which Hitch replied "Yes, my dear, it's called 'acting'!"
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
yea I bet raquel could have done a great job of acting the only reason I Dont like that movie you mentioned is becase of her as the dominant that ruined it for me. But the whipping of topless female gally slaves was awsome to say the least. ringo star said that the male actors intentinally flubbed the lines on that scene to make it last laonger taking two days instead of one. the thougt of Raqel holding a whip for me = zero the thought of her being tied up and whipped = 8000
shareRaquel has never played a submissive that I can recall, but she DID play a dominatrix (of sorts) called "The Priestess of the Whip" in a cameo role in The Magic Christian - Miss_October
I'm shocked speechless. When I first saw the lead actress, I was like OMG, she's perfect. I am super envious of her voluptuous body, sure, she doesn't have monster boobs, but they are perfect, not too small either. She's beautiful in a natural way too. She's the kind of female that will never need make up to look beautiful, and she's beautiful nude. She's very sensual. My only beef is how she portrayed regular sexual intercourse as torture through her facial expressions, when I can't imagine how it would hurt.
I dunno what you were expecting. People like Pam Anderson would look hella ugly without make up and look extremely fake and unnatural.
---
I want my freedom FROM religion!
My only beef is how she portrayed regular sexual intercourse as torture through her facial expressions, when I can't imagine how it would hurt.
It can hurt a great deal if the man is large and careless and the woman unprepared. Surely you recognize that rape can cause serious physical damage, right?
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
It can hurt a great deal if the man is large and careless and the woman unprepared. Surely you recognize that rape can cause serious physical damage, right?
As we've mentioned before, it's completely possible to enjoy the idea of something without enjoying the reality. And if you're a masochist, how is it you can't understand that pain and enjoyment aren't necessarily exclusive? Finally, nobody really knows what she looks or sounds like during sex unless it's a complete act; apparently I must look like I'm in pain during the act, because I've had quite a few men ask "am I hurting you?" or women ask "is he hurting you?"
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
My current GF often has this expression and makes these noises that I think she is in pain. Sometimes it really hurts because of wrong angle or something but mostly she is enjoying it. It's hard to tell joy and pain apart in her case. Then again, she likes it rough sometimes, so that's no surprise.
shareSharon Tate, Hands down...
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