At the outset of her documentary Writer Of O, director Pola Rapaport confesses that she came across Pauline Réage's erotic novel Story Of O when she was 13, and found it compelling beyond its illicit, smutty thrills. When, upon the book's 50th anniversary in 1994, it was revealed that "Réage" was actually well-known French journalist and literary advocate Dominique Aury, Rapaport decided to seek more information about the writer and the book. She eventually landed one of the last interviews Aury granted before her death in 1998 at age 90. In Rapaport's footage, Aury looks gaunt and distracted, but she still flashes the disarming smile and self-deprecating wit she had been renowned for, well before the world knew she'd written one of the most scandalous works of the 20th century.
Aury wrote Story Of O as a gift to her lover, essayist Jean Paulhan, and though few believe that the book's depictions of sadomasochism are drawn from the author's direct experience, there's still something darkly needy and knowing about O's prose. The book is an exaggerated expression of romantic commitment, and maybe even an allegory for marriage, as it delves into the feelings of a woman willing to debase herself to prove her love. This vision of a beautiful woman in thrall to one man is such a male-friendly fantasy that initially many assumed "Pauline Réage" was a man, and perhaps even Paulhan, who wrote the book's original introduction. But when Rapaport recreates passages from the book—intercut with images of animal slaughter during scenes of dominance and waves crashing during scenes of sensuality—she emphasizes the woman's point of view, and how she senses what men do to her.
Even with the recreations, Writer Of O is more speculative than deeply felt. Friends of Aury and fans of the book speak on the author's behalf, and in the various interviews with Aury, she talks about her relationship with Paulhan and the ramifications of keeping a secret. But the nature of Story Of O's erotic pull remains largely unexplored. People talk about how the plot might theoretically appeal to women and men, but not about how it actually turns them on. How did Aury come up with the elaborate violations she puts her heroine through, and how did it make her feel to write about them? More to the point, how does it make Rapaport feel? After her opening revelation, the filmmaker disappears from her film, just as the sweet, opaque Aury fades away once O takes over.