Maîtresse

Story of the power struggle of a professional Dominatrix and her Alph- male boyfriend. Olivier (Gérard Depardieu)is the brutish & confused sponger boyfriend trying to show who's boss to Ariane, the professional Dominatrix. Despite their new relationship his interfering starts to make things difficult for her 'buisiness', aspects of which are shown in graphic style like a slave getting his bits nailed to a piece of 2 by 4. Also interesting to note is that S&m today doesn't seem much different than it was in '76 (note the ballet shoes & other accoutrement's).

A great film, photography and story-wise(but which could have done without the horse slaughter scene). However if I could edit out other parts of this film also, it would be the hulking Neanderthal thug Depardieu depicts (admittly well). Then I would watch this film a million times just for seeing the beautiful Bulle Ogiers Ariane.

Maîtresse is a typical story of seduction and obsession. The dialog is in French with subtitles. Without an unusual or groundbreaking plot, and not presented as a grand film, it was filmed in the popular style of French films of the time, many of which enjoy enduring popularity today because of their minimalist execution. It simply presents a story in an unpretentious format. It is not too sexually explicit visually, though the theme definitely is.

The director, Barbet Schroder, has evolved into one of the incredible directors of our time. His life is probably more interesting even than most of his fictional characters, and his other films are a short list of some of my favorites.

There is really only one noteworthy element of the film, and it is quite noteworthy. The central character, Ariane (Bulle Ogier), who is reminiscent of Catherine Deneuve, is quite seductive as a dominatrix who avails herself of a fetishist's dream chamber complete with a wardrobe that most people would not believe could have possibly existed when the film was made in 1973. It is the fantastic surprise of the film, and the character is easily 20 years ahead of her time.

Anyone into edgy fashion today would be well advised to enjoy viewing this film and accept a humbling lesson concerning underground esthetic's that existed some 30 years ago. Indeed, this film alone may have helped to popularize modern fetishist, "sadist" or bondage sensibilities, especially in France.

An interesting and odd film, decidedly kinky, and with an ending that makes a brief but incredible prediction of the work, "Crash" by J.G. Ballard, written soon after the film was released- or perhaps coincidentally.

I must have previously only seen the cut version of this and that version with some six minutes missing, clearly would have had some of its 'sting' removed. The complete film starts intriguingly enough with a young Gerard Depardieu playing amateur cat burglar with his loser pal when they stumble upon they know not what. Bulle Ogier, as the 'Maitresse' of the title soon gets rid of the loser and draws a starry eyed Depardieu into her lair. Apparently actual Parisian masochists were recruited (some say they even paid the film makers) into playing the roles we see enacted before our very eyes. Ogier is stunning in her Lagerfeld costumes and conducts her creatures most realistically while Depardieu seems to slip into the role of assistant (and lover), whipping and slapping like a real pro. This is astonishing stuff with very good dialogue and a sure hand on the directorship by Barbet Schroeder. I have to say that one scene was awesomely jaw dropping whilst another had me wincing and disappearing to the back of my chair. Having recently watched the director's, More and The Valley, this makes a sensational trio of unique films that deserve a much larger audience.

This review is for the uncut version of this film, complete with elderly gentleman having his member nailed to a piece of wood. It's obvious that for the more serious S&M scenes a body double was used for Bulle Ogier (the body double has hands that look about 20 years older than Ogier's and she was probably a professional dominatrix). Consequently it feels more like documentary footage shot in a dungeon. Combined with the real and graphic footage in the abattoir it all feels gratuitous and clearly thrown in just to 'sex' the whole thing up a bit. I'm sure at the time the shock value of this film was enough. But it's not aged particularly well. For instance, the scene at the châteaux loses it bite as it's immediately obvious to the modern viewer what's going on.

I watch a lot of art-house films, often from the 60s and 70s, and with depressing regularity the female characters get slapped about by their boyfriends. When Olivier tries that with Ariane (Bulle Ogier) she head-butts him. I don't think I can ever remember seeing a leading lady head-butting someone outside of a martial arts film. It's genuinely a shocking scene.

Despite all this if you strip all the exploitative material out you're left with quite a nice romantic comedy. Olivier (Gérard Depardieu) is such a buffoon, that despite the occasional thuggish outburst is rather non-threatening: the perfect romantic comedy staple.

The final reveal as to who Gautier is rather anti-climactic. I guess it's meant to be a fantasy within a fantasy sort of thing.

The best thing for me in this film were the Karl Largerfeld costumes.

Overall: 6/10.

Before I saw this film I was warned that the film contains quite a few explicit sexual ideas and images but I have to say that I found the film to be a beautiful romantic .It isn't a conventional romance ,rather extreme if I dare to say,but nevertheless you can easily identify yourself with some of the scenes.Me personally would categorise this film as an Atmospheric Romantic.quite self-explanatory!