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Writer of O
Writer of O is a dramatic documentary on the long-hidden author of
the world-famous erotic novel "Story of O". Known for forty years as Pauline
Reage, the author chose at 86 to reveal herself as Dominquez Aury, a
mild-mannered literary editor for Gallimard, France’s most prestigious
publishing house.
The contrast of her two disparate personalities forms the center of this hybrid
film, which sets documentary footage of her and her contemporaries against
dramatized scenes from her erotic novel and fictionalized scenes from her life
during the period in which she wrote her scandalous book.
This provocative film by Pola Rapaport treats the subjects of sex and love,
literature, feminism, censorship, creativity and freedom. Central to the
discovery of Aury’s motivation for writing the book is the love story between
her and her lover, the celebrated French man-of-letters, Jean Paulhan. Their
clandestine affair inspired the book and is re-created here in moving scenes
from Aury’s essay "A Girl in Love."
Major figures in the film include the audacious publishers Jean-Jacques Pauvert
in France and Barney Rosset of Grove Press in the U.S. The British author and
journalist, John de St. Jorre, author of a revelatory article in The New Yorker
which exposed Aury, leads us through the story.
Scenes from "Story of O" are also dramatized in the film, creating an atmosphere
similar to that found at the chateau which Aury described in her book:
frightening, visceral, mysterious, and profoundly erotic.
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