Film

The Story of O

Name: The Story of O
Genre: Drama
Released: 1975
Cast: Corinne Cléry, Udo Kier, Alain Noury, Anthony Steel, Jean Gaven

Drama
Very dark
Strange

Alain Robbe-Grillet's adaptation of the notorious erotic novel. A woman enters an underground world of sexual initiation and transgression, told with the clinical detachment of experimental cinema. Visually austere, psychologically unsparing, and almost entirely plot-resistant—it's less a story than a prolonged exploration of desire, submission, and the dissolution of identity. For those ready to sit with provocation without looking away.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a stylised, unhurried erotic drama where the look and the mood carry more than the plot, and you can sit with a film that treats submission as a serious, slightly hypnotic subject.

Skip it if you need a story with momentum or emotional warmth, since this is cool, static and frequently explicit, and sex is the point rather than a backdrop.

What it asks of you: It runs under a hundred minutes but feels longer, with long held shots, sparse dialogue and a dreamlike pace that rewards patience over plot.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Last Tango in Paris1972

Bertolucci's controversial masterpiece about anonymous sexual encounter and emotional devastation. Like O, it uses explicit intimacy to probe power, memory, and the self. A film that still stings.

But Extremely graphic, narratively thin, and in places deeply misogynistic. Its transgression can feel less like art and more like endurance.

In the Realm of the Senses1976

Oshima's equally audacious Japanese film about erotic obsession consuming two lovers entirely. Shares O's commitment to depicting desire as a force that unmakes personhood, with comparable visual formalism and refusal to apologize.

But Unsimulated sex, acts of genuine violence, and a bleakness that offers no catharsis or redemption. Not transgressive for effect—transgressive because the story demands it.

The Passion of Anna1969

Godard's cryptic, fractured film about desire and political ideology. Like O, it treats the body and sexuality as philosophical territory rather than narrative convenience. Challenging but rewarding for patient viewers.

But Deliberately obscure, non-linear, and allergic to conventional pleasure. Godard actively resists being understood on first viewing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Story of O

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Intimacy2001

Both are studies in the visual grammar of nakedness and what cinema can do with bodies beyond narrative. Both ask what the camera sees when it simply watches.

Chereau's film begins where O ends: two people meeting in a room with almost no dialogue, allowing only bodies and proximity to speak. Shot with documentary plainness and genuine erotic power. What O theorizes, this film lives.

But Unsimulated sex footage; when released, it caused genuine scandal. The plainness of its approach strips away the art-film distance that protects O.

Secretary2002

A more recent exploration of submission and desire that actually allows for character development and tenderness. Power dynamics, transgression, and genuine intimacy without the clinical coldness. Darkly funny where O is austere.

But The tonal shift toward romance and levity might feel like a betrayal if you want sustained provocation. It offers reconciliation where O offers only intensity.

Under the Skin2014

Glazer's hypnotic sci-fi uses the female body as a site of unknowable power and predation. Like O, it refuses to explain itself, favoring atmosphere and discomfort over clarity. Formally brilliant and deeply unsettling.

But Long passages of silence, minimal dialogue, and an ending that resolves nothing. Frustrating for anyone who needs narrative scaffolding.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom1976

Pasolini's only true peer in depicting transgression as cinema. A systematic descent into obscenity that asks what the image itself becomes when pushed to extremity. Genuinely dangerous filmmaking.

But Actively unwatchable for many. Excrement, graphic violence, and complete absence of mercy. Even enthusiasts often feel they've survived it rather than enjoyed it.

The Fire Within1963

Malle's quiet film about a man's dissolution finds tragedy in psychological disintegration rather than spectacle. Like O, it concerns the systematic erasure of identity, but through depression rather than desire. Devastating.

But No transgression to cling to. Just slow, patient sadness. Some find that harder to watch than explicit content.

The Piano Teacher2001

Haneke's Austrian masterpiece about sexual shame, repression, and the violence that erupts from both. Explores the space between desire and identity with unflinching precision. Difficult and essential.

But Graphic and upsetting in ways that feel less like art and more like punishment. Haneke intends discomfort; he does not intend enjoyment.

Persona1966

Bergman's investigation into the dissolution of self through two women and what passes between them. Like O, it's essayistic, fragmented, and interested in what remains when identity fractures. A masterpiece by any measure.

But Abstract, deliberately cryptic, and asks the viewer to do most of the work. Bergman provides almost no handholds.

The Skin1981

Both directed by women exploring transgression and submission as philosophical states rather than plot mechanics. Both see the body as a landscape where ideology writes itself.

Cavani's epic of desire, collaboration, and moral dissolution in post-war Naples. Operatic where O is clinical, but equally committed to the idea that bodies are territories where power rewrites personhood. Lush and overwhelming.

But Extremely long, maximalist in every direction, and emotionally demanding in ways O's distance refuses. Where O is sparse, this is baroque excess.