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Rating: 
Summary: They came sooooo close...
Review: ..to doing a good job with this adaptation. They put almost everything from the book into the series EXCEPT THE END!!!! They wussed out and had Jacyline take her sister and flee in tears when they realized what O had become. This production also suffers from its own overblown sense of art direction. Meaningless images & poses populate the Roissey chateau, trying very hard to legitimize iteslef as "art", but fails laughably.
Rating:
Summary: Good production, poor transfer
Review: Based on the first disc in this series, this is a faithful and successful adaptation of the classic erotic novel. Claudia Cepeda, the eponymous heroine, is perfect for the part, with a deceptively girl-next-door kind of beauty and innocence that are belied by her willingness to accept any degradation for the sake of love. Director "Ron Williams" (featured on the commentary track) realizes that what sets the erotic apart from the pornographic is that the context is more important than the acts themselves; so the sex scenes are mostly of the cut-to-the-face kind, and the floggings, though explicit, are not lingered over. All in all a tasteful and stimulating treatment of the story; but badly marred by the picture quality. I don't know what it means that this made-for-European-TV series has been "digitally remastered", as the box claims. If so, it must have been remastered from a poor VHS tape, because that is about the level of detail and color one sees in the picture. Definitely a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Weird
Review: Made in Brazil. Stilted acting, uneven dialogue, dubbing, and irritatingly repetitive music. Boring and Weird. Get the original film.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent series
Review: The film came out on Video on the BRI Home Video in 1994 as a 10 Volume set. Now (2000) it is proposed as a 5 DVD series. Each DVD contains two 60-minute episodes. There is also a quite interesting gallery of stills, with audio comments from the Director, Eric Rochat, as well as an English and a German soundtrack. The most interesting supplement is a full length (nearly nine hours!!!) comment track by the director. With his thick French accent, he manages to give interesting insight in this long erotic movie, and the way he shot it. We learn more about his vision of the Story of O, as well as about the pretty Brazilian actress Claudia Cepeda and the other members of the cast. The film contains nudity and many adult situations but it is tasteful and while it is erotic and does contain a lot of nudity, it is not pornographic in nature. They did a good job with the series but it is a flaw built into it. As a series it was doomed...there are only a limited number of S & M tricks that the writers could pull out of their hats...before it starts getting repetitive. The Volumes in the 5 DVD set and their contents are listed below: In Volume One First episode O meets René and they become lovers, René and others evaluate her potential for training and she is introduced to "Roissy" a house of training. In Volume One Second episode O undergoes training at the house of "Roissy" chains, whips and servitude abound...simultaneously she as she continues to internalize her submission. In Volume Two Third episode O's training at "Roissy" continues...René leaves O at the house for 5 days...thinking that her trainers would be less reserved in his absence...and he was right! In Volume Two Fourth episode O has completed her training at "Roissy"...O is attracted to Jacqueline a female model she works with and is pursuing her...and O is introduced to and "given to" Sir Stephen. In Volume Three Fifth episode O comes to the realization that René has given her to Sir Stephen...for good. Besides her "normal" training, O is being trained to lure another woman (Jacqueline) into dealings with Sir Stephen and René. In Volume Three Sixth episode O becomes intimate with Jacqueline with the eventual goal of presenting her to Sir Stephen and René. Preparations are made for O's branding and René reassures O that he still loves her. In Volume Four Seventh episode O is brought to the all female environment at Anne-Marie's countryside estate for further training...Where she is marked with Sir Stephen's initials. In Volume Four Eighth episode Having been received more training while during her stay Anne-Marie's estate she returns to Sir Stephen. He picks out her wardrobe and decides to lend her services to some other men. O also become jealous when she learns that René is seducing Jacqueline so that he can present her to Sir Stephen. In Volume Five Ninth episode O and René are both intimate with Jacqueline and both have the final goal of presenting her to Sir Stephen. Jacqueline is repulsed at some markings on O...but when Jacqueline's little sister Nathalie hears of O's servitude she is enthralled. In Volume Five Tenth episode Jacqueline and Nathalie make their decisions on whether to join Sir Stephen, O is put on display at a party and O realizes that René no longer desires her as he once does but she has reached such a psychological state that she no longer cares. Devotees of this life style will probably like the series a lot!
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