Maîtresse (1976)
Directed by Barbet Schroeder

Film Review

The notoriety accompanying the release of Just Jaeckin's soft-core porn fantasy Emmanuelle in 1974 had a profound and lasting impact on French cinema in the mid-1970s, effectively castrating the state censor and ushering in an era of far greater explicitness in the on-screen depiction of sex and sexuality.  One of the first beneficiaries of this more liberal state of affairs was Barbet Schroeder's Maîtresse, a film that deals honestly with sadomasochism whilst at the same time pursuing a fairly conventional romantic drama.  The film's flagrant eroticism proved to be too much for some critics and it met with a very hostile reaction from a large segment of the French press.  By today's standards, the film is incredibly mild and you wonder what all the fuss was about.

Prior to this Barbet Schroeder had directed two other films that were similarly attune to the air du temps - More (1969) and La Vallée (1972), both strongly associated with the hippie movement.  Although he directed several notable films, it is as a producer that Schroeder is best known.  In his early twenties, he founded the film company Les Films du Losange, which produced the films of many distinguished auteur filmmakers of the New Wave era, most notably Éric Rohmer (Ma nuit chez Maud, Le Genou de Claire, La Marquise d'O).

On Maîtresse, Schroeder was assisted by Jean-François Stévenin, at the time a prominent actor who later made his own directing debut in 1978 with Le Passe montagne.  As his cinematographer he engaged the great Néstor Almendros, a frequent collaborator of François Truffaut, for whom he turned in some his best work (L'Enfant sauvage, Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent).  Almendros's widely recognised flair for striking visual compositions is very much in evidence in Maîtresse, heightening not just its erotic impact but also its emotional intensity.

The casting of the auteur's darling Bulle Ogier for the lead female role was a no-brainer for Schroeder.  She had already given him good service on his previous film La Vallée and prior to this she had wowed the critics with her incredibly committed performances on Jacques Rivette L'Amour fou (1969) and Out 1 (1972).  As well as being a superlative actress, Ogier was stunningly beautiful and a formidable screen presence, so to match her Schroeder needed an actor of comparable ability, which is why he chose Gérard Depardieu.

Depardieu had recently shot to stardom through his appearance in Bertrand Blier's iconoclastic take on the classic road movie, Les Valseuses (1974) and already he was showing signs of being a legend in his own lifetime.  Depardieu's solid physique is belied by the extraordinary sensitivity he conveys through his performance, and partnering him with Ogier, whose seductive feminine shell offers no indication of the almost macho toughness within, was a masterstroke. By subtly inverting the male-female roles, these two remarkable actors bring a fresh slant to the complexities of an intense love affair and make Maîtresse a fascinating study in romantic obsession.

Film Synopsis

Olivier, a thirty-something from the provinces, arrives in Paris and through a friend finds work as a door-to-door book salesman.  This is how he comes to meet Ariane, a seemingly respectable middle-class woman who lives by herself.  Olivier's ears prick up when Ariane lets slip that the apartment below hers is unoccupied at the moment.  Not long afterwards, Olivier returns with his friend with the intention of breaking into and robbing the empty apartment.  They can hardly believe what they find - a room fitted out as a sadomasochist's wildest fantasy, with all manner of kinky outfits and pleasure-inducing equipment.

The two men's instinct is to beat a hasty retreat, but their exit is prevented by a ferocious dog.  It is now that Ariane makes her grand entrance, descending a staircase in tight-fitting leather, a dominatrix of the first rank.  To repay Olivier for a favour rendered in the course of her work, she allows the two men to go free, but Olivier cannot let her go.  What ensues is an emotional upheaval that will have a profound effect on both him and Ariane...