4. Story Of O (1975)
O, a fashion photographer is taken by her lover René to a place where she is initiated into the world of sadomasochism. She is 'taught' to be supine and available for any kind of sexual penetration (oral, vaginal and anal) at any time. She is also branded. René passes O along to be the sex servant for Sir Stephen. She seduces a woman called Jacqueline and then she is sent by Sir Stephen to a house in the country. At this house O is branded and has piercings put into her genitalia by Sir Stephen. A bit of kinky sex follows and Jacqueline is sent away to be trained as an SM sex toy for René. O asks Sir Stephen if he would go through a similar initiation as her to prove his unconditional love for her. Sir Stephen says he probably would so O grabs his hand and brands him with her cigarette - an O. Adapted from the controversial novel of the same name by Pauline Reage, who was trying to prove that a woman could write like the Marquis de Sade. She failed miserably, unable to hit the heights of vicious sadism de Sade extrapolated, and being a typical woman, she had to introduce romance into the equation which de Sade would have balked at. Nevertheless, it is a good novel and the film adaptation has been rendered tastefully kinky by capable soft core Euro smut director - Just Jaecklin. It is still extreme enough to warrant an NC-17 rating. Whilst the activities O participates in are consensual and she allows herself to be tortured and humiliated for the love of a man, censors and rating boards just inherently dislike SM material due to the issue of sexualised violence and consent. A difficult conundrum for the MPAA to work out - so they just label it NC-17. But nowhere near as egregious as Salo - a truly Sadean movie.