Story of O
O嬢の物語
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A photographer is taken to a château and trained for her lover's pleasure; the novel was written by a woman, which is the whole argument.
A young fashion photographer in Paris, known only as O, is taken by her lover, René, to Roissy, a château where women who have agreed to it are trained to serve men as slaves. She has agreed, for René's sake. Collared, she is presented to the men there, whipped and shared among them while René looks on, and he leaves her at Roissy until her training is complete. Back in Paris she goes on obeying him.
O photographs a vain young model, Jacqueline, and is drawn to her. René then introduces O to Sir Stephen, an older man close to him, and gives her to him: he wants her to learn to obey someone she does not love. Sir Stephen is a stricter master than René, and O falls in love with him. At his direction she is sent to a house at Samois, run by a woman named Anne-Marie, for further training in submission, and at his request she is permanently marked as his.
Sir Stephen tells her that René is in love with Jacqueline, and that O must seduce the girl and bring her to Roissy. O resists, then agrees. Jacqueline moves into O's flat and becomes her lover, and when O describes Roissy to her, she is repelled and does not believe it. Sir Stephen shares O with two acquaintances, a man known as the Commander and a young man, Ivan, who falls in love with her after one night and asks Sir Stephen to release her. O refuses to go. She takes Jacqueline to Roissy to be trained for René. At a party at the Commander's house in Brittany, O is put on display, wearing nothing but chains and an owl mask, and watching her, Sir Stephen feels that his ownership of her is complete.
Some time later, O asks Sir Stephen whether he would endure everything she has endured for him. He says he supposes so. She burns a mark into his hand: a circle, an O.
Starring
Corinne Cléryas O
A young Paris fashion photographer who consents, for her lover's sake, to be trained in submission at Roissy.
O’s story
At Roissy, O is collared, whipped and shared among the men while René watches, and he leaves her there until her training is done. Back in Paris she obeys him but keeps her pride, and when he gives her to Sir Stephen she must serve a man she does not love. She comes to love him and agrees to belong to him alone. At his direction she is trained further at Samois and marked for good as his. Ordered to seduce Jacqueline, the model she photographs, she hesitates, then obeys, and takes her to Roissy for René. When Ivan falls for her and asks Sir Stephen to set her free, she refuses to leave. Later she asks Sir Stephen whether he would endure what she has endured. He supposes so, and she burns a circle into his hand.
Udo Kieras René
O's lover, who takes her to Roissy and later gives her to Sir Stephen.
René’s story
René brings O to Roissy bound and blindfolded, watches as she is whipped and shared among the men there, and leaves her until her training is complete; then he comes back for her. In Paris she goes on obeying him, though not meekly, and he introduces her to Sir Stephen and gives her to him, wanting her to learn to serve a man she does not love and her defiance to be broken. From then on the orders are Sir Stephen's. According to Sir Stephen, René has fallen in love with Jacqueline, the model O has been photographing, and it is for René that O seduces the girl and takes her to Roissy, where she is to be trained to serve him in O's place.
Anthony Steelas Sir Stephen
An older man to whom René gives O, a stricter master than René, whom she comes to love.
Sir Stephen’s story
Sir Stephen takes O from René as a gift and finds her not submissive enough; René wants him to break her defiance. He sends her to Anne-Marie's house at Samois for further training and has her marked for good as his. He tells her that René is in love with Jacqueline and orders her to seduce the girl and bring her to Roissy. He shares O with two acquaintances, the Commander and young Ivan, and when Ivan asks him to release her, it is O who refuses. At the Commander's house in Brittany, watching her displayed at a party in chains and an owl mask, he feels that his ownership of her is complete. Some time later she asks whether he would endure all she has endured for him. He supposes so, and she burns a circle into his hand.
Li Sellgrenas Jacqueline
A vain young model whom O photographs and falls for, and whom she is ordered to bring to Roissy.
Christiane Minazzolias Anne-Marie
The woman who runs the house at Samois where O is sent for further training in submission.
Why it matters
Story of O rests everything on consent. O agrees to all that is done to her, and the question the film cannot settle is what an agreement means when it is given for love and never withdrawn. The novel it adapts, published in 1954, was written by a woman, Pauline Réage, and that leaves open a question the film cannot answer on her behalf: whether this is a fantasy of submission written from inside a woman's desire, or the story of a woman being erased. Just Jaeckin's film drew more than 3.5 million admissions in France and about as many in West Germany; Britain's censors refused it a certificate in 1975 and passed it uncut only for DVD in 2000. Its ending is its own. The novel closes at the masked party; the film gives O a last act that turns the mark back on the man.