Maitresse - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: A delicacy
Review: The trained viewer will find the approach to this story very refreshing. The Hollywood formulas get very stale and this is no where near a cliche .
The dialogue is natural and intriguing. The characters are played with empathy. This movie is very elegant yet done with a very quiescent sense of realism. This quiescence ,in my opinion, contributes to the feel of the film, but to conventional film viewers it may seem a bit slow at times.
The best feature of this product is actually the interview with Barbet Schroeder the director. He is charming and once you get a taste for his style you will become much more discriminating in your movie critiques.
This item is worth it for collectors, and film connoisseurs.

Rating:
Summary: curiosity
Review: This film written and directed by Barbet Schroeder is unusual since it presents a world of sadomasochist sex play without any hint of eroticism or exploitation. There is more violence in the faux-Helmut Newton portraits in The Eyes of Laura Mars. A slim and beautiful Gerard Depardieu meets dominatrix Bulle Ogier by chance and begins an affair with her. The parallel between the roles she plays with customers who have dictated the terms of their pleasure, and her relationship with Gerard doesn't quite come off. It's about the same as when Schroeder shows us the slaughter of a horse. Depardieu has told us he used to work in a slaughterhouse and when he happens across one in a drunken stupour, the horror of the killing of the animal can't be equated with Bulle piercing a man's chest and penis. The only similarity is in the same matter-of-fact way Schroeder displays both images. When Bulle has a semi-breakdown midway in the film, my interest was peaked since this showed narrative promise. If enacting these roles had a psychological effect on her, that would reveal more to her character than she has allowed us to see. Bulle comments that she likes the play because it allows her into the intimacy of some people's "madness", she keeps a venus fly trap plant, and has a doberman called Texas. Unfortunately Schroeder has Bulle quickly recover and she returns to her job, thereby reducing her character to a cypher. Therefore Depardieu is the one left to respond. Observing the paraphernalia of s/m can only have a surface interest before you either want to experience the sensation, or you get bored, and it is disappointing that the narrative only extends to his wanting to discover the identity of Bulle's "pimp" as a matter of "control". When he threatens to make love to her in front of her clients, Schroeder cuts away. The ending is particularly frustrating since Schroeder pulls away from a Postman Always Rings Twice tragedy for a pointless gag. However he only uses music in certain contexts - eg in the roleplay scenes for comic effect. Otherwise the soundtrack is silent, to reinforce his almost documentary eye to the subject. He would later bring this clean approach to more commercial titles like Reversal of Fortune, but with greater effect.

Rating:
Summary: maitresse
Review: This movie has been out of print for many years...it is one of the most sensual love stories with a TWIST of humor and S&M. One of Depardieu's early Great works. And it's always been one of my favorites. SEE: Too Beautiful For You - not as much sex but more humor!

Rating:
Summary: not for the easily offended, the squeamish or horse lovers.
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Maîtresse" or "Mistress" in my opinion, is one of the worst three films to be released on the Criterion Collection. The only reason I watched and reviewed it is because it was released by Criterion. The film contains very explicit depictions of sadomasochistic activity some of which involve nailing body parts to blocks of wood. There is also a graphic scene of a horse being slaughtered for meat as well as numerous scenes of people eating horsemeat that horse lovers may be highly offended by. It got an X-rating by the MPAA and was banned in many parts of the US.

The film is about a woman who secretly operates a sex dungeon in her basement. When her apartment is broken into, the burglar falls in love with her.

The only special feature on the DVD is an interview with the film's director, Barbet Schroeder.