Olympian Goddess: Best Madonna Concert Ever?

I’m still coming down from the high of Madonna’s concert at The Olympia in Paris on July 26^th, 2012, a day that will live on in history as one of Madonna’s most important contributions to the arts. In fact, I'm still stunned that it's over. 

Madonna's new single: the PERFECT opener to a PERFECT show!

The first half of the show was Madonna at her most human. There were minor glitches which I noticed but can’t remember, and a sense of “first time out” nervousness that typically arises on the opening night of any Madonna tour but which is usually absent from her most polished TV performances. I LOVED her speech to the audience, where she was at her most revealing in admitting that she doesn't actually want to create enemies. Madonna loves to stir it up onstage, but I don't think the human being offstage is nearly as confrontational when she's not holding a microphone. Then we were treated to that stunning "Justify My Love" interlude, which I am convinced was partly inspired by Behind The Green Door and which was exquisite in a club setting. Then, the black-and-white, filmed Madonna transitioned into the real woman for "Vogue", and without losing an ounce of Old Hollywood star quality. Madonna's look during this number in The MDNA Tour is my favorite Madonna look EVER, and seeing those famous eyes of Bette Davis staring at me from my screen when she sang "Bette Davis, we love you" was utterly thrilling. 

Nothing brings out my inner child quite like a STUNNING new rendition of "Vogue"!

At first I thought it was a condensed version of The MDNA Tour in an improved setting. I couldn't believe how much more audience-engaging these numbers seemed at The Olympia than they did in the stadium footage on YouTube, and I was positively ecstatic by how fueled Madonna was by the French audience when she performed that sizzling "Candy Shop"/"Erotica" number with Brahim Zaibat. Actually, I was kind of distracted by him--for a twenty four year old, he sure has a worldliness when he dances that matches her youthfulness. It makes their age difference non-existent, and their chemistry is overwhelming. I expected her to segue into "Like A Virgin", but then she blew my mind by giving us all the performance of "Beautiful Killer" we'd been waiting for--AND THEN SOME! My mind was slightly cluttered by all the potential UK & US tabloid headlines about Madonna's insensitivity in putting guns in her show. In fact, I hate to admit that imagining uninformed TV pundits claiming she was using last week's tragedy to stir up controversy nearly blotted out the music I was hearing and loving. Thankfully those screaming fans in Paris and that Goddess on the stage distracted me from all that. Like she said, the enemy is within, and Madonna kicked its ass. When she sang“Je t'aime… moi non plus”, I thought I might die: it was as though she was performing a duet with the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg, and gave one of the best acting performances of her career. When that number ended, I was preparing for her to return with "Like A Prayer" or "Celebration", assuming the show would end as the tour does. When it didn't, I was even MORE stunned by the last two songs--bravo to my favorite living artist for leaving those last images burned into our mind like the final frames of a great (FRENCH) movie. 

The 9-minute, 2-song finale: among the greatest highlights of Madonna's entire career.

Madonna has promoted her new music with club gigs since 1998’s Ray of Light prompted that legendary 2:30 AM mini-concert at The Roxy in New York, and since 2000’s Music she’s streamed many of these club gigs on AOL or MSN. Her MDNA mini-concert streamed on YouTube and marked the first time that such a performance came four months after the release of the related album and two months after the launch of a world tour. It was a truly unprecedented gig akin to her 2005 hints at having The Confessions Tour accompanied by club appearances around the USA.  Staging The Olympia Show after The MDNA Tour has already become enmeshed in her career history underlined the widely held opinion that Madonna’s performances definitely work best in small venues. Six of the greatest hours of my life were spent seeing Madonna in stadiums, and I’m certainly not suggesting that her arena and stadium shows are somehow inferior to what we all just saw at The Olympia. But there’s no denying that the innate theatricality of everything Madonna does, especially when she’s holding a microphone, is best appreciated the closer you are to her.

The 2012 re-invention of "Open Your Heart" plays BEAUTIFULLY in a smaller venue!

In light of recent events in Colorado, I’m inclined to think Madonna’s performances of “Beautiful Killer/Die Another Day” and “Je t'aime… moi non plus” will be controversial for a few weeks. But I’m more certain that they will go on to be remembered among the finest performances of her career. Future Madonna fans won’t be caring about how many records MDNA sold--or, I should sadly say, didn't sell. They’ll just wish they could turn the clock back and see the show that we all just saw when it was live and current and being watched by fans all around the world all at the same time. When I was screaming and jumping in my living room as loud and as high as the crowds in France, I was not the only one involuntarily putting on a separate show entirely. In fact, there were probably screaming complaints in every major city during those glorious minutes when Madonna refused to let the media terrorists win by giving the performance of "Beautiful Killer" that every fan has been dreaming of. “American Life” could have hurt Madonna’s career if the wildly violent and utterly brilliant original video had been broadcast. But I refuse to believe it would have done any more damage than what was done when she pulled it, in turn disappointing a number of fans who look to her to be ever-defiant. I truly believe she did this to protect her then-husband’s career more than her own. Without that concern at The Olympia, she could be as audacious and brilliant as we wanted her to be. And boy, was she EVER.

"BEAUTIFUL KILLER": The Madonnarama edit of Madonna's CLASSIC number!

Addendum, 07/28/12: 

Well, it turned out to be controversial.....but not for the reasons I expected. I won't link to footage that's all over YouTube of fans hurling obscenities and empty water bottles onstage after the show ended. I sympathize with fans who paid close to $400 for tickets without realizing they were only getting a fifty minute show, especially as I'm STILL saving up my pennies for Madonna's upcoming tour stop in Boston this September. I'll comment on that infamous audience reaction in an upcoming post closer to Madonna Day 2012, but for now I'll leave you with the final performance of the show. I hope this isn't pulled from YouTube any time soon, because I think it's one of Madonna's finest hours. I don't consider Madonna "The Queen of Pop" because of all the money she's made or the records she broke in the process. I consider her "The Queen"--we can drop the "of Pop" bit in RobWorld--because she is not only capable of creating great works of art but also of creating great works of FUN. I have watched this over and over because it is as ridiculously entertaining as it is mentally stimulating. It's more like the final scene of the movie that I have always dreamed Madonna and Dario Argento would make together, not the closing number of one of her concerts. It certainly put the French audience over the edge--no wonder they were so inclined to riot! I'm well aware that I am A.) biased and B.) don't have money to throw around, but I'm still inclined to believe these 4.5 minutes alone were worth the price of admission.

Madonnarama's edit of Madonna's unbelievable take on "Je t'aime...moi non plus"

07/29/12 Update: Madonna's response to her legendary night at l'Olympia.* (I know I'm not the only one who thinks Marine Le Pen played a role in this...) 

*Thank you GangsterSaysRelax!!

08/06/12 Double Update: 

1.) Madonna speaking to her fans to address the l'Olympia controversy when she brought The MDNA Tour to Vienna several days after the Paris club show. 

2.) The full-length show is finally BACK ON YOUTUBE in an HD "Director's Cut" version that has been personally approved by Madonna!!

(Psst! You can also download the whole performance thanks to Madonnarama!;) 

When Marilyn Took Cannes Behind The Green Door

What better way to celebrate the first day of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival than with a flashback?

In May 1973, The Mitchell Brothers’ Behind The Green Door became the very first American pornographic film to compete for the Palme D’Or. John Hubner’s 1993 book Bottom Feeders, written about Jim and Artie Mitchell, confirms that being an official selection at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival was the ultimate validation of The Mitchell Brothers’ artistic ambitions. The film was greeted with thunderous applause at the first screening, and the crowd went even wilder when leading lady Marilyn Chambers responded by giving a speech in French. Behind The Green Door, already a commercial and cultural phenomenon in America, went on to become a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival.

In May 2002, I wrote about Behind The Green Door for my final paper for one of four classes I took with my favorite professor at Emerson College, writer Peg Aloi. It was during that semester that my first viewing of Gerard Damiano’s Deep Throat sparked a life-changing fascination with the ‘porno chic’ movement in American cinema. This enthusiastic appreciation of classic straight porn has always left people confused, but I hope that my favorite essay from college explains why every movie lover should mourn for The Golden Age of Adult Films. 

Robert Jeffrey

Media Criticism and Theory: Final Assignment

                 Feminist Porn? A Look Back Behind the Green Door

If film is an emotional medium, then by definition alone adult cinema could be the highest plateau of movies; no other genre has ever managed to spark such extreme reactions among the masses, nor can any kind of film equal its emotional/physical effect on the individual watching such a film. Adult titles often retail for much higher prices than conventional videotapes and DVDs, and yet they often prove to be bestsellers, for people are willing to pay enormous sums of money for the effect that they arouse within the viewer.

However, because the genre is so adept at provoking and exciting the viewer, filmmakers often take the power of the medium for granted. Technical merits and artistic aspirations are far too often neglected in favor of letting the “onscreen action” work for itself. The adult film industry had been given new life when Deep Throat, an X-rated sex comedy released in late 1972, became a box office phenomenon that played for years to packed audiences in mainstream cinemas as well as adult theaters. This led to a so-called “porno chic” movement throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, during which numerous adult films were booked into major theaters, reviewed by mainstream film critics, and enjoyed considerable box office success to rival the profits of Hollywood films.

 In her revealing audio commentary accompanying the 1980 film Insatiable, Gloria Leonard, former adult film star and President of the Free Speech Coalition, noted that this was what made the adult films of the 1970s and early 1980s so unique. What once had been a sleazy underground genre made of short, technically inconsequential “stag films” rose up to the erotic feature films that played to widespread-and often mainstream-audiences. These films were shot on film, had linear storylines, and boasted stars that were as ambitious at becoming well-regarded actors as they were at shedding their inhibitions to engage in onscreen sexual activity. With the advent of video production, however, the genre once again slid into its less inspired roots, leading to today’s market of meaningless sex, cheap videography, and virtually absent emphasis on plot or performance (“Insatiable”).

In 2000, British film critic Derek Malcolm of The Guardian caused quite a stir with his list of the Top 100 Movies of the 20^th Century. Malcolm described it as a list of “not the 100 best, [but] 100 of the best…personal favorites which, I hope, I have good reason to celebrate”. This cinematic ranking was particularly unique and provocative because it omitted a good number of films that are generally guaranteed a high perch on the filmic totem pole. Among these would be Metropolis, Citizen Kane, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Searchers, La Dolce Vida, The Godfather, and Annie Hall (Malcolm “Century of Films”). In an article published in early 2001, several renowned film critics from the world assessed their feelings on Malcolm’s list. Some critics applauded him for his selections, particularly his more offbeat inclusions and exclusions. French critic Jean Roy, of “L’Humanite”, praised his “preference for style over stars, and for films which deserve to be reminded over crowd pleasers”, while German critic Klause Eder encouraged readers to “see his favorites and you know how exciting cinema can be”. However, the most revealing and representative comment-and the one on which I am essentially basing my ensuing reflections-came from Peter Keough, of the Boston Phoenix: “You’ve got to admire a 100 best movie list that omits Citizen Kane but includes Behind the Green Door” (Malcolm “What the Critics Say” 2-3).

The 1972 film Behind the Green Door was directed by “The Mitchell Brothers”, a collective dub for San Francisco adult filmmakers Jim and Artie Mitchell. Behind the Green Door was more than a movie. It was a phenomenon, and one that helped-perhaps more so than any other film of its time-to revolutionize the adult film industry. “Serious critics reviewed the film, while it raced up the list of the most popular movies as if nothing untoward were happening at all” (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door”, 2). “One of the most popular and recognized adult classic titles of all time” (Spooky 1), the low budget production went on to gross $100 million worldwide, making it one of the most profitable films of the 1970s (Adult DVD Reviews 3).

 The story is so simple that it’s star has often described it one sentence, but for the sake of an understanding of the film’s effectiveness, I’ll offer a few more words than that. Gloria (Marilyn Chambers, in her debut leading role) is an exquisitely beautiful young woman staying alone in a somewhat secluded hotel. One evening she leaves the hotel, extremely well coiffed as if attending a formal date, and is abducted by two masked men. She is taken to the backroom of an isolated location, which we soon learn is a theater-cum-sex club, where an older woman comforts her, massages her, and tells her to prepare to embrace “the most exquisite moment” of her life. Gloria soon finds herself walking into the elaborate sex club (from “behind the green door”), onto a stage where she is surrounded by beautiful, caped women, and in front of an audience composed of upper class couples comprising a variety of sexual orientations, body types, ages, and ethnic groups. What happens throughout the rest of the film is a bizarre, garish, gorgeously photographed and almost overwhelmingly erotic chain of sexual events, occurring both on stage and within the audience.

Contemporary porn films show sex. They do not “deal with” sex, because they generally cater to an audience not interested in the before-or-after effects of human sexual behavior. Behind the Green Door is perhaps the best example from the era of films that did, in fact, explore with the subject. What makes it especially unique is that the “before” and the “after” are secondary to the “right now”, in that the movie is about what is going through the mind of the central character while she is being subject to an experience that is at once frightening and intensely exciting and pleasurable. Chambers specifically requested that she not know what events would transpire when the character of Gloria walked onto the stage. She felt it “would be more interesting from the audience point of view by making it more realistic by not knowing what was going to happen” (Chambers 1). Gloria’s character never utters a word throughout the film, and this gave Chambers the chance to deliver a performance that is completely internalized-and which in turn is arguably more empathetic than a dialogue-driven work would have been. We do not simply look at Gloria; we feel what she is feeling. Her experiences are our experiences, as we, too, are taken to this exclusive sex club, unaware of what will transpire. And if the effect that “BTGD” had at the box office and on popular culture is in any way representative, we too are changed by the events of that night. 

Indeed, the biggest asset to Behind the Green Door on an artistic level (it was undoubtedly the best thing going for it from a commercial perspective) may be the presence of its debut star, Marilyn Chambers. Chambers, in her first (and most famous) leading role, truly personified the “girl next door” appeal that the Mitchell Brothers sought. Although strikingly beautiful, she was neither sultry nor glamorous; her beauty was simple, pure, perhaps even plain. She embodied the ideals of feminine innocence and virginal superiority, and her ultimate fusion of such qualities with genuine sexual exhilaration was as much an advancement for women’s equality as was any other feminist achievement in film. What makes her experience a unique feminist statement is that her liberation comes not through denying her femininity through dissolution into “a man’s world”, nor abandon any part of her personal identity to embrace more traditional feminine elements (i.e. Maternity, marriage). Rather, she fulfills her womanhood through exploring and appreciating her sexuality. Although some feminist groups have slammed the porn industry for degrading women, Behind the Green Door tells the story of a woman who pushes the limits of ingrained feminine ideals (purity, simplicity, asexual persuasion) before rejecting them altogether to engage in passion and pleasure with men and women alike. And despite the stigma attached to the genre, the message clearly shone through. Derek Malcolm pointed out that “there were as many female commentators who approved of the film as disapproved, since it was about a woman totally liberated by experiences that had previously been part of her private and unattainable fantasies” (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door” 2).

Seconds after Gloria enters from behind the green door, there is an unseen narrator, speaking to the audience within the film-as well to the audience of the film. He encourages the audience not to fear for the young woman onstage, for instead of being in any way harmed or pained, she will be “loved as never before” and free to leave at her own will once this experience is complete. Thus, he states, they (or perhaps we) should sit back and enjoy what is about to happen. The subsequent effect that the film has on its real-life audience is reflected in the response of the filmed audience members. As the events involving Gloria proceed on stage, the editing frequently cuts to how the audience is reacting. As the film goes on, the audience becomes more and more aroused, beginning to engage in their own sexual fulfillment, and their post-Free Love antics are every bit as titillating and fascinating to watch as is the stage show in which Gloria is the lead participant. Again, the themes of feminism and sexual liberation are forefront in the audience reflection. A good number-if not the majority-of audience members watching Gloria’s transformation are women, and their pleasuring of themselves at the sight of Gloria with men and women is perhaps the first onscreen acknowledgement in film history of women’s own titillation in response to erotica. Although the Mitchell Brothers probably were not suggesting that the sexual free-for-all of the audience within the film should be mimicked by the audience in front of the movie screen, clearly they were endorsing the notion that women should take part in the enjoyment alongside their male counterparts. Again, this effect also proved successful as Derek Malcolm noted that the Mitchells “were delighted that women were the bedrock of their audience” (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door” 2).

After the feminist statement being made by the film, another socially significant and widely discussed aspect of the film’s sexual content is that the very first heterosexual encounter is between Marilyn Chambers and a black man, boxer Johnny Keys. An interracial scene “is commonplace today, but probably turned a few heads in the early 70s when the title came out” (Spooky 2). Indeed this sequence seems to have been directed with the Mitchells extremely conscious of the effect it would have on audience members. The notion of interracial sex was clearly still a hot spot in the early 1970s (to a different extent, it remains so today), and the Mitchell Brothers played up the sequence by enhancing the stereotypes associated with the white female and black male involved. Marilyn Chambers-with her luminescent blue-green eyes and curly blond hair-was certainly the personification of America’s obsession with clean, virginal purity as whiteness; it’s no wonder she was once selected to be the young mother on boxes of Ivory Soap. The sequence begins with her lying on her back on a bed, with six females, clad in black, surrounding her as if holding her down. Johnny Keys enters through the green door, clad in tight white pants with a hole cut out of the crotch, thus presenting his fully erect genitals. He has lines of tribal make up on his face, shark’s teeth strewn around his neck, and prowls like a predator as a combination of the jazzy score and “jungle beats” blend in the musical soundtrack. Thus the symbolism is clear: the carnivorous black man is about to pounce upon the helpless white virgin, thus robbing her of her innocence and respect. The twist in the Mitchell Brothers’ film is that Gloria does, indeed, enjoy the experience, and it solidifies her shedding of inhibitions and sexual maturation. It further underlines her rejection of feminine ideals placed upon women by white male society, for she is a “good white girl” enjoying sex with a black man. It is at once honest in its enticingly taboo subject, while still socially conscious enough to break down this black-white barrier through graphic sexuality.  Thus what began as a fearful becomes sexual, extremely erotic, and perhaps even beautiful; indeed, the Mitchell Brothers had achieved in turning the tables on the audience conventions of interracial sexuality. That the audiences of a pornographic film would share such internalized stereotypes is indeed representative of the ingrained racism in America, and the Mitchells were more than willing to utilize such feelings to enhance both the social and erotic effectiveness of their film.

I suppose it would be prudish, if not downright ignorant, to gloss over the film’s depiction of sexual activity. Indeed, it is the most well remembered aspect of the film among mainstream audiences, and is the foundation of its appreciation among adult film fans. As mentioned before, the sex in the film is indeed erotic; so much that I would go so far as to call it beautiful. There is no pain or power playing in the film. Domination and submission are foregone in favor of unrestricted, unbridled sensuality. The actors in the film seem to be enjoying themselves, and thus there is not the mechanical, “I’m only here for the money” feel found in today’s pornographic films. Also, being the early 1970s, the exploits of the actors are clearly influenced by the hippie “Sexual Revolution” movement. There is no apparent preference among the actors on the stage or in the audience. They seem to have little interest in the gender of their partners, nor in their age or physical description. One of the most frequently featured audience members is an extremely overweight woman, something that would not likely be seen in a major pornographic production today.

The sex in the film is also extremely well staged and well photographed; the actors may give the impression that they are simply being “caught on camera”, but clearly the Mitchells were adept at giving their vision a natural feel. “The Mitchells opted for “art” and respectability [and] the film does have a charge that you can’t deny” (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door” 2). The brothers’ artistic ambition is most evident in “the ultimate moment in [the] film” (Adult DVD Reviews 3), when they take the so-called “money shot” (an industry euphemism for male ejaculation) of pornographic films and give it a wildly original spin that has never been surpassed. Although the portrayal of an ejaculation would seem impossible in any artistic context, Derek Malcolm points out that “the Mitchells could at least claim some imagination in making it” (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door” 2). The scene is shot in slow motion, but is then processed in such a way that the film’s color scheme becomes truly bizarre, giving the sequence the look of an Andy Warhol painting. The scene is played over several times, using different colors, strange, ambient sound effects, and a number of different, surreal angles, some of which are “mirror shots” that give the scene the look that Gloria’s face is reflecting itself. Although Malcolm describes the scene thirty years later as “more hilarious than arty”, I would disagree. Although it might come off as amusing to jaded contemporary audiences, this disorienting piece of psychedelia perfectly caps off the Mitchell’s grand ambitions to change the face of adult cinema by creating their own breed of “art porn”.

Reading this assessment of the film (and, perhaps as much, its genre), one might question whether I am talking about the state of film or simply the state of adult film. In fact, I am talking about both. I would argue that the two industries are strangely proportional, considering that the same peak years of American adult cinema saw a surge in quality films output by Hollywood studios. This is true today as well, as the sophomoric, “gynecological” (Chambers 2) adult films that dominate the market coincide with Hollywood films that aim towards a lowbrow mentality among predominantly teen and twenty-something masses. The quality-and perhaps more importantly, the popularity-of 70s adult cinema was representative of a Cinema of Grown-Ups, people who went to the movies in their 30s and 40s and sat down for intelligent entertainment that catered, as opposed to pandered, to their tastes. Adults crave sexual stimulation as least as much as they crave intellectual stimulation, and 1970s adult features provided both in spades.

I do not consider Behind the Green Door a film that transcended its genre. Rather I consider it the film most representative of a genre that was, for a brief but glorious time, transcending itself. “Pornography has been a staple of the cinema from the year dot,” wrote Derek Malcolm in his reflection on the film. “At no time, however, was it more respectable as in the America of the early 70s. Respectable couples did not care a jot if anyone saw them going in or coming out…[and] there were breakthrough porno movies that deserved at least some of the limelight they were once afforded” (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door” 1).

With that having been said, however, it should be noted that even among such well-crafted adult films of its day, Behind the Green Door was something truly special. No adult film before it was so consciously ambitious in its attempts to affect-and hopefully change-its audience. The movie sought to lure female viewers into adult films, and to encourage them to achieve personal liberation through sexuality. It broke down interracial barriers, and in fact dissolved any kind of dividers between two human beings interested in engaging in passionate sexual activity. “This was the most stylish, and some say the most erotic, of all of these [“porno chic”] movies,” wrote Derek Malcolm (Malcolm “Behind the Green Door” 1). I would certainly agree, but such an opinion is merely scratching the surface. In addition to being sexually charged to a degree rarely seen in adult films, it achieved something much more: bringing sex to the forefront of audience discussion. Although Deep Throat had achieved this same feat, Behind the Green Door was perhaps more impressive in this regard since it managed to do so without the need to lighten up the subject matter with bawdy humor. It encouraged audiences to become acquainted with their sexuality, to appreciate it, to be unafraid of it, and to use it to enhance their self-identities. Indeed, this was a truly “grown up” movie.

VIVA LA BETTE! Miss Davis in France

How did I go my whole, Bette Davis-loving life without having seen this clip?! 

It’s Bette Davis at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, sans co-star Joan Crawford, for the festival screening of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. It’s worth putting into context: it was at the Cannes Film Festival where her eldest daughter B.D. met future husband Jeremy Hyman, whose influence over B.D. was cited by Bette as a reason for her daughter’s eventual betrayal. But don’t let that spoil anything, for this is Miss Davis at her absolute best: flamboyant yet humble, intelligent yet unpretentious, regal yet professional. She’s bursting with her trademark New England energy, but still manages to take us all to Old Hollywood with two of her most dramatic cigarette lightings EVER! 

Bette Davis was of French and English/Welsh descent, and she seemed to credit her (maternal) French ancestry with her passionate, romantic side in her trio of autobiographies. No doubt she gave much credit to her French side for her great appreciation of the arts, and in 1986 she was awarded by the French Minister of Culture for her contribution to the art of cinema. On May 22^nd of that year, she brought her medal to The Tonight Show for her first sit-down with Johnny Carson since a catastrophic string of ailments coincided with her 75^th birthday: a double mastectomy, a stroke, a broken hip, and, most devastating of all, the publication of a vicious tell-all-lies book by her beloved (and evil?) daughter, B.D. Hyman. Although she never let go of the pain of what her (yes, evil) daughter did to her, she wrote in her bestselling 1987 memoir This ‘N That that she was “having a ball” with Johnny Carson on this night. And boy do we have a ball watching her! (The interview is divided over several clips, but at 1:58 you'll see the award—and how honored she was to receive it!)

This was the era when I first fell in love with Bette Davis. She had a grand resurgence in the 1980s due to her films, her book, her talk show appearances, and, most especially, the famous indomitability on display in the wake of public heartbreak. I loved Bette Davis before I loved Madonna, and I’m not gonna lie—Madonna is a VERY close second, but this slice of TV heaven speaks to why Miss Davis will always get my vote for THE greatest star of all.

Bette Davis at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival (via Google Images)

Bette Davis’s powerful relationship with France came to a profoundly sad yet beautiful end when she died in an American hospital in France on October 6^th, 1989. She ultimately succumbed to the reemergence of breast cancer, which had also been the cause of death of her mother and sister. No one knew when eighty year old Bette was in the final days of her life except for she and her doctors. This is pretty shocking in theory, yet easily believed when one watches this 1988 clip, supposedly the last TV interview that Miss Davis ever gave for French television. Despite the dubbing, her distinctly recognizable voice is as strong and commanding as ever while she promotes the French paperback edition of This ‘N That. Despite her ongoing battle, and even after her massive stroke, Miss Davis remained as witty and intelligent as ever. But I think that the REAL shocker in this interview is that Bette, one of Hollywood’s most ardent lifelong Democrats, cast her last ballot for George H.W. Bush! We’ll never get to know what she thought of his lone term, but my respect for “Bush 1” went up when I learned he had been good enough for my beloved Bette. 

Academic Art Porn: Bringing "O" Back to Boston

Several years ago, I had an external hard drive crash and lost most of the papers that I had written while I was an undergraduate at Emerson College. But when I recently plugged that hard drive into a new PC, every file was somehow restored. Among the fossils in this academic graveyard was an email that I wrote to a professor on November 27th, 2002, just before Thanksgiving break. During that era of my film education, I was entranced by the lost subgenre of “art porn”. When a literature professor asked for suggestions of films that he could show which dealt with gender roleplay, I made an attempt to integrate one of the films that I was most enamored of into the canon of classics worthy of study at Emerson.

I just wanted to send an email to follow up on my suggestion for the film version of "The Story of O" as a candidate for capping off the "Identity" unit of the class. I saw "The Story of O" early this Fall after ordering a copy late this past summer, and since then it has become not only a personal favorite film of mine, but also a frequent topic for discussion; I cannot even count how many people I have recommended it to, or even shown clips to to demonstrate its visual remarkability and sheer brilliance. In fact, the reason that it came to my mind in class today was because just a few hours earlier I had given a copy of the film to another professor with my enthusiastic recommendation.

Although the film is probably available at a number of video stores in their foreign film section, I am not quite positive that it is as easy to find today as it probably was a few years ago. Furthermore, my understanding is that the version circulating in America has been an altered English language edit, which is not only dubbed but trims several minutes of exposition in order to tighten the pacing. As such, I wanted to offer my services in sending you a VHS copy of my DVD of the film, which is the original French language version and presented in its entirety. I live in Massachusetts and will be traveling home tomorrow (Wednesday), so it would be no trouble to me if you would like me to mail this French version to you to watch over the break. I figured that this way you could take a look at the film and determine if you think it would be appropriate, and of course that way you would have a copy to use for showing in the classroom.

The film adaptation of "The Story of O" is a French erotic drama from 1975 based on the classic novel by Pauline Reage. Directed by Just Jaeckin, who is best known for the enormously successful "Emmanuelle", it stars Anthony Steel, Udo Kier, and in the title role Corrine Clery, then a newcomer (this was her third film and first leading role) who is best known to some Americans for later playing a Bond girl in "Moonraker".

I had been familiar with this film for a number of years, though only vaguely, and I knew that it had a following among fans of erotic cinema. I became interested in seeing it earlier this year when I became entrenched in my interest to see the many "art porn films" (as I like to call them) that were released during the 1970s, when adult films were, for a brief but exciting time, being taken seriously as an art form and mainstream commercial venue. Along with the likes of such controversial but highly acclaimed works as Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris", Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter", and especially Nagisa Oshima's "In The Realm of the Senses", I would consider this film to be one of the true benchmarks of this movement. And like several of the aforementioned films (not to mention dozens of other entries in this subgenre), it enjoyed tremendous commercial success. From what I understand, it performed very well in America, but was a bona fide blockbuster throughout Europe, making its star Corrine Clery a formidable force in European films in the late 1970s.  The one exception to this success was England, where the film was banned until 1999!  (To the best of my knowledge, its being banned was based on the hot button "female domination" issue that made the book so controversial).

I finally saw the film myself this past September, and it is quite frankly one of the best French films that I have ever seen, by any standard. It is visually stunning, overwhelmingly erotic, beautifully scored, and Corrine Clery's portrayal as "O" might just go down as one of my Top 10 favorite female performances, ever. It is not a perfect film by any stretch, and the explicit nature and surreal, fantasy structure of the proceedings makes it a bit difficult to interpret at times, but I think you will like it a great deal. If nothing else, it serves as solid proof that, once upon a time, so-called "adult films" really were made for adults: not only did they intelligently deal with sexual themes, they were apt to provoke thought and incite discussion in a manner that today's Hollywood fodder so rarely does.

To the best of my knowledge, the French cut of this film has never been made available on home video in the US. The DVD I have is from France, and contains the original French language version (which runs about 100 min) as well as a more commonly seen 92 minute English version, which I believe has been the copy seen on home video for years. I have not seen this English edition myself but I have included the French version since it is the one I saw and fell in love with, and can therefore vouch for. Furthermore, the print used for the French edition is in priceless condition, and showcases the gorgeous cinematography in a manner that the washed out English language alternative cannot. More importantly, though, the French incarnation of the film contains exposition that is removed from the English version, thus likely making the film far less effective.

Although I have not read the Pauline Reage novel yet (I have a copy that I plan to immerse myself in over winter break), my understanding is that the film version is faithful to the source material, told in the same dreamy fashion as I hear the book is (complete with the "two beginnings"), and much of the narration and dialogue is identical to the book. However, the ending to the film is a bit different than the book; I like the ending myself, but it is a bit abrupt so I am curious as to how the book compares.

Regarding the inevitable sexual content of the film (certainly one of the reasons that I would have you screen the film prior to class), I would guess that the film is ultimately "tamer" than the book, but it is indeed quite explicit.  However, the movie's most controversial aspect is the violence and perceived misogyny, which of course is the element that makes it so potent for analysis and discussion. As I recall (I have not seen the film for a few months), the number of explicit sexual encounters are few and far between, but all of them are handled in a manner that is distinctly mature: recreating the book's passages, the sexual scenes all prove integral to the story, and specifically to the arc of 'O''s character. They are handled in a classy, artful manner, and are erotic and sensual while never seeming gratuitous; "The Story of O" is an adult film, but ultimately, it is by no means a conventional "porn film". 

As you mentioned in class, I think it makes for an excellent discourse on gender role-play, as it tends to incite passionate debate among people as to whether 'O' is the aggressor or the submissive. Appropriately enough, the film is rather ambiguous about this thanks to Corrine Clery's brilliant, enigmatic performance: her 'O' is shrouded in mystery, and though she delivers a fully dimensional performance, her portrayal is such that one could make a strong argument for either side based on her interpretation of the character. Although I have not read the book and perhaps am not yet suited to judge, I must say that I think she makes "the perfect O".

Whew! I'm terribly sorry for having likely taken up a great deal more of your time than I planned to...as I also told my other professor, when I begin discussing a film I feel passionate about, I tend not to know where to stop! "The Story of O" is indeed a film that I feel passionate about, and whether or not you decide to show it to the class, I hope that you will appreciate it as well, and that it will satisfy your expectations upon reading the novel. I hope this finds you well, and I hope to hear from you later on. However, if I do not, have a great Thanksgiving!

I can’t remember what my professor wrote back in response to this email, but I do remember that he chose another favorite film of mine instead—Asia Argento’s semi-autobiographical Scarlet Diva. I vaguely recall giving him a VHS copy in person on the last day of class, presumably so he could show the next semester’s batch of students. I never found out if he did. Years later I took another one of his courses, for he is an asset to Emerson College and his courses truly facilitated my growth as a writer. But by then, just a few years older and wiser, I was so embarrassed by my audacity in passing along the film that I foolishly acted like I had never met him before. This I regret  far more than recommending Euro-softcore for classroom viewing. 

CINEMA PERSONALIA: Twenty Movie Memories

Like most people my age, I spent most of my twenties trying to live out a fantasy of who I wanted to be and who I wanted people to think that I was. Now there are just twenty days left of my twenties, the decade that I most looked forward to for all of my life. I thought I’d take one last opportunity to publicly embrace my reality while celebrating my love of fantasy, but most of what I felt inclined to reveal was directly related to my lifetime of movie-watching. As such, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite movies and movie experiences….twenty that came to mind. 

1.) My favorite American horror movie is A Nightmare on Elm Street. Freddy Krueger played a HUGE impact on my life as a Child of the 80s, but it was not until Halloween ’91, at the age of ten, that I and one of my closest childhood friends braved our first viewing….and absolutely LOVED every minute of it. 

2.) After A Nightmare On Elm Street, and barring its mind-blowingly awesome sequels, my favorite 80s horror movie is Fright Night. Living next door to Chris Sarandon was also my reigning romantic fantasy when I first saw the film in the fifth grade!

3.) My favorite Japanese horror movies are Hideo Nakata’s Ringu/Ring, Toshiharu Ikeda’s Shiryo No Wana/Evil Dead Trap, and Nobohiku Ohbayashi’s Hausu/House. Although most of my favorite horror films are American and European, I consider Japanese horror films to be the most frightening, the most spiritually potent, and among the most influential on my own work.

4.) The first time I ever saw The Exorcist was the night before Easter 1992. My Dad showed it to me, because he felt I was mature enough to appreciate it. I knew it was a horror movie, but it was not for many years that I knew it was supposed to be scary—as someone who grew up Catholic and believed in demonic possession as a very real possibility, I simply viewed the film as a wrenchingly realistic mother-daughter melodrama!

5.) My first brush with Hollywood came in 1995, when my family and I were cast as extras in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Eraser. We spent several days filming and being part of the shoot in September 1995 in New York City. It was a fantastic, defining experience. However, after seeing the movie four times on the big screen and owning it on VHS, letterbox VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray, I can finally confirm that my family is nowhere to be found in the film.

6.) I regard Otto Preminger’s Laura as the most intoxicating Hollywood film I have ever seen. Everything about it—the sex, the violence, the wit, the elegance—represents not only what I most hope to achieve as a screenwriter, but also the elements of great American cinema that I hope will one day return to the big screen in full force.

7.) I consider Jacque Tourneur’s Cat People to be the most spellbinding movie I have ever seen. I think that the film and legendary producer Val Lewton’s dreamy interpretation of “the horror movie” paved the way for many of my favorite European filmmakers, none more than my idol Dario Argento. 

8.) When I went to see Halloween: H20 in the suburbs of Boston, the print used was dubbed in French. As ushers flashed their lights at people demanding to see ID to prove they were of MPAA-age to be watching a teen horror film, people pointed out the fact that the movie, and its opening titles, were in a foreign language. “It just starts out that way” was the response from uninterested ushers. Group by group, people filed out to get refunds before having the movie spoiled, but I stayed to see the end of the dubbed opening sequence. When a major character got her throat slit in the first ten minutes, the women sitting behind me yelled out together “Au revoir!”.

9.) Just Jaeckin’s adaptation of Pauline Reage’s The Story of O is my favorite French movie of all, and the Pierre Bachelet score is probably my favorite film music not to come from Old Hollywood or EuroHorror.

10.) My favorite “gay movie” is Paul Verehoeven’s De Vierde Man. It was also the first Dutch movie I ever saw, and watching it was the first time I had my defining dream of living and working in The Netherlands.

11.) I briefly lived in Amsterdam, and one of my favorite daytime rituals there was to get dressed up in nice clothes and sit in a local gay porn theater. I'm pretty certain that I was unconsciously imitating Marilyn Chambers in David Cronenberg's Rabid...up to a point, of course. In those weeks before I turned twenty-five, catching the gaze of older men checking me out made me feel wanted. But leaving before any of them could have a chance to speak to me made me feel enigmatic. To this day, I still appreciate the Garbo-esque effect derived from both.

12.) When I went to see John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness, someone inserted a huge portion of John Murlowski's sci-fi action movie Automatic into the print. Because “Madness” was so surreal, and because John Glover played a supporting role in BOTH films, I and most of the audience thought we were just watching a really bizarre movie. But when the spliced print switched back to In the Mouth of Madness and we all saw the last twenty minutes, I was mortified to have been robbed of the movie experience intended. I went back and saw the Carpenter film again two days later using the free pass we were all given on the way out, but nothing could match THAT first-time viewing!

13.) The only movie I ever saw three times on the big screen in its first seven days of release was Clueless. I never cease to be grateful that THE feel-good-movie of the 90s was released during the most painful chapter of my adolescence.

14.) I first saw Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion on its opening night: April 25th, 1997. On Saturday, May 3rd, I saw the film twice in a row. It became the only movie I ever saw five times in a theater, and remains one of my favorite comedies of all time. (Even though I have subsequently had many important life events take place on April 25^th, I STILL regard 4/25 as “Romy and Michelle Day”!)

15.) In January 1991, my Aunt and Uncle took my sister and my cousins and I to see The NeverEnding Story Part II on the big screen at the dearly departed Showcase Cinemas in Dedham. For reasons unbeknownst to the audience, someone in the projection booth included trailers before the film for both Not Without My Daughter AND The Silence of the Lambs. The former was what introduced me to Sally Field, and the latter was the most effective teaser I had ever seen. It is also why I’ve never been able to be as frightened as everyone else when watching The Silence of the Lambs: the images from the rapidly-cut teaser were even more terrifying when they took a senseless, nightmarish shape in my young mind that could never be recaptured on film or in memory. 

(Note: The "Silence" teaser I refer to is not on YouTube, but for those of you who own the 2001 DVD or more recent BluRay, it's THERE and it's STILL a mini-masterpiece in its own right!)

16.) I think that The Silence of the Lambs is a perfect film, and Jodie Foster’s performance as Clarice Starling has influenced my life and my writing as much as any characterization on film. Yet I still prefer Michael Mann’s Manhunter, not least of all because William Petersen’s "Will Graham" coupled with Kim Greist’s turn as his wife "Molly" represents my ultimate fantasy of noir-tinged wedded bliss on the Atlantic Ocean.

17.) Despite my love and appreciation for Ridley Scott, I prefer James Cameron’s Aliens over Alien. I think it’s scarier, I think it’s more human, and I think that the collaboration of Cameron and Sigourney Weaver was what elevated "Ellen Ripley" to being one of the greatest characters in the history of American film.  

18.) I was given a surprise birthday party when I turned twenty-one, but I showed up so late that I missed my own surprise!  It was the first time I had a Friday birthday since I was fifteen, and I had gone to an evening show of The Banger Sisters because I thought it was amazing that, six years after The First Wives Club, another Goldie Hawn movie opened on my birthday. I was in a taxi when I got a call implying that there was a crowd waiting for me at a certain restaurant, so I paid the driver his fare and got out of the cab while traffic was at a standstill. As I got out, he started moving again, and my thankfully sturdy shoe got wedged. “Would you mind driving back a bit? My foot is under your wheel” was my request to him. By the time I got to the restaurant, several of the guests I was so pleasantly surprised to find had been in attendance had already had to leave. Hardly my best birthday. DEFINITELY one of my best birthday stories.

19.) During the years that I have lived in "walking cities", I frequently took middle-of-the-night strolls while listening to Dario Argento scores on my MP3 player. In Boston and Amsterdam, I began my walks by first listening to Laura Branigan’s “Self-Control”, and when I later moved to New York and Miami Beach, I always watched the “Self-Control” music video before embarking from my apartment. Laura’s onscreen erotic journey was a perennial fantasy of how I hoped those nights would go, and kept me distracted from the more realistic fears of violence that I both ignored and took advantage of. Today, Laura Branigan’s “Self-Control” is my favorite non-Madonna music video, my favorite William Friedkin film, and an instant throwback to some of the most dangerously exciting nights of my life.

20.) The first time I ever saw Flashdance was on May 26th, 1994. What began as a casual way to spend two hours while I awaited Memorial Day Weekend became my favorite movie of all time. Seventeen years later, it remains my favorite movie, and every May 26^th I make every effort to rewatch it.