TidalBasinTavern 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.

marymorrissey what a phony fine romance this is. and what about the fact that Gerard appears to totally slit someone's throat towards the end of the film? I mean, he's become a bit of a DRAG to the audience at this point, one can only imagine what his girlfriend thinks. and why can't she just tell him Gaultier is not her pimp and that he's probably investing her money? of course we don't know what's up with the bank acct he starts at her instruction. and when he's in the bank again... it's not at all clear what's up, is he retrieving chump change that's all that's left in the account to go leave as a valentine? if so, what's so moving about that? it just seems another instance of his being a complete idiot. for this film to succeed there needed to be some way of making their relationship more believable. it was interesting when he took charge with her once the dog was out of the room the first time. but when it ends up with him raping her and her kicking him out... it should have just stayed that way... the scene at the slaughter house was totally gratuitous, and since the process has been depicted in much better films, all the more so. the best part of this film was the fetish sequences, the rest of it was pure hokum.

manuel-pestalozzi In my opinion this is quite a serious movie about desires, power and commerce. I found certain very graphic scenes of torture and humiliation hard to take, and I suspect that there must be different versions around. I must hasten to say that nothing I saw seemed to me gratuitous and that Maitresse is anything but an exploitation movie. It deals with the issue masochism openly and with an honest curiosity, in that aspect almost like a documentary. However, after seeing it I am more puzzled than before – but probably that was the intention of the makers of his movie.Maitresse is very carefully constructed. A young man comes to Paris and teams up with a professional burglar. They pretend to be door-to-door art book dealers so they can find out which flats are empty. A very nervous woman begs them after some hesitation into her spacious flat. She needs their help as her bath tub is overflowing. Asking her if she is not concerned about the downstairs neighbors, she says that they are away on a holiday. That, of course, is the sign for the two to strike the next night. What they see in the light of their torches there are latex clothes, torture instruments and even a gallows ready for use. The older man's reaction: It's all cheap, unsellable stuff, let's get out. Then the ray of their flashlight hits a cage with an old naked man crouching in it, then from the ceiling a folding staircase is lowered and the woman from the day before descends, together with a fierce dog called Texas.I decided to describe this opening scenes because they set the tone. A large part of the movie is about deceiving, pretending and make believe which seems to be one of the major kicks masochists get out of their apparently precisely timed rituals. It seemed evident to me that the woman planned the burglary in order to lay her hands on the young hunk played by a then not yet famous Gerard Depardieu. Apart from an instant sexual attraction there evolves a kind of a love story as the man moves into the (upstairs) apartment (the movable staircase, incidentally is hidden underneath a coffee table with Chinese wood inlays). But commercial interests are never far. The woman clearly expects him to participate in the business giving her an occasional helping hand. He, for his part, thinks that maybe more money could be squeezed out of the enterprise. But he abhors bodily maltreatment. Before he moved to Paris, so he tells, he worked in a slaughterhouse and could not stand it getting used to the slaughter ritual. The whole business rather sickens and stuns him. The prevailing nature of the couple's relationship never becomes clear up to the enigmatic final scene. And strangely, this is an asset here.As to the issue of masochism, the movie bluntly states that there are people who are in need of being occasionally tortured and humiliated. And that it is no easy issue with devastating emotional effects. These people are the woman's customers and expect full service. No doubt is left that they are rich and influential to the point of being above the law. It also becomes apparent that they leave very precise directions as to how they want to be treated – it is as horrific as it is dull and uninspired, the movie shows even that. Sometimes the directives become too much even for the experienced dominatrix.The question of who is on top and who is under the heel (here: literally) becomes a new, rather quirky significance. The upstairs/downstairs situation in the woman's establishment shows this masterfully. The movie makes it clear that the downstairs people have the say. After all, they are the customers. Those upstairs are merely servants. So, why not just quit? The couple makes an open end attempt in that direction in the final scenes of this interesting, thought provoking movie.

Moe Tavern *** NB: THIS COMMENT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. ***The costumes in particular are dismayingly authentic and convincing, recalling original fetish heroine Diana Rigg in 60's TV series 'The Avengers.' Spike-heel ankleboots, trousers, corset, cloak and gloves all in the sleekest of black leather; add to this a purple velvet shawl, a perfect black wig and Bull Ogier's timeless bemused innocence, and a masochist's screen starlet is born. Her spot-on kinkiness is, if anything, a more cultivated progression on her English predecessor: one gruesome episode aside, she does precisely all the things you wished Emma Peel would do. In short, Schroeder's feature's impact is greatest at its most simple and straightforwardly visual i.e. when Arianne dons the leathers, wields her whips and coolly dispenses the sport to her minions. If (like me) this is your chief interest in the film - and it might well be - then yes, certainly, do seek it out.