MAITRESSE

(A.k.a. MISTRESS)

Olivier (Gerard Depardieu) arrives in Paris by train, hops on a moped and races across town to meet his old pal Mario (Andre Rouyer) in a café. The pair are looking for a get-rich-quick scheme and Mario has a business proposition: selling encyclopaedias on a door-to-door basis.

They start off by tackling a high-rise apartment block where most of the tenants show no interest whatsoever. Pretty blonde Ariane (Bulle Ogier) is also initially reluctant, but suddenly ushers them in to her apartment with a promise of buying some books. Her motive, it appears, is that her bathtub is flooding and she needs help. Olivier obliges and the two men bid a hasty goodbye, having learned from Ariane that the person who owns the apartment below her is away for the summer.

Mario insists he and Olivier break into said apartment and burgle it. But in doing this, the boys get more than they bargained for. The flat is not empty: on the contrary, it’s populated by leathers, spikes, whips, chains, dildos … and even a middle-aged man, naked and trapped inside a cage.

As they cram what they can fit into a sack and prepare to leave, Olivier and Mario are confronted by barking Doberman Texas. At that point, the ceiling above them begins to part and a set of steel stairs electronically descend. Ariane, sexed up in dominatrix gear, climbs down the steps and into her secret den.

Having cuffed her intruders to a radiator, Ariane frees Olivier so he can help her … she takes him into her fetish chamber, where she rides a male client up to the baffled burglar and asks him to "piss in (her client’s) face".

Yeah, it’s an unorthodox start to a love affair. But that’s exactly what happens, as Olivier becomes fixated with this alien new world and the beguiling woman at the centre of it – and she in turn sees something reassuring in his combination of innocence and protectiveness.

They begin to date casually and they do have fun, but increasingly Olivier is disturbed by Ariane’s oddball – though profitable – beneath-the-stairs activities. After all, these include stretching torsos on racks, heavy duty whipping, prodding arses with long spikes and nailing male genitals to pieces of wood.

Olivier clearly loves Ariane though. He even throws Mario down a flight of stairs when he later turns up and expresses concerns about his friend’s infatuation with her. Upon discovering the apparent reason for why she does what she does, he resolves to make things so that she needn’t work as a dominatrix any more. But … will she thank him for that?

The 1970s were a troublesome time for the BBFC, who at the time were concerned with altering the public’s perception of them as censors, while being confronted on a relentless level by a new generation of filmmakers seemingly hell-bent on challenging their supposed liberal resolutions.

There were several films that were famously key in shaping the face of British cinema censorship during that decade. Most notable are probably THE DEVILS, STRAW DOGS, SALO (120 DAYS IN SODOM) and LAST TANGO IN PARIS. Outside of the horror genre, there were also IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (a film that then-BBFC head James Ferman was a fan of) and French arthouse director Barbet Schroeder’s MAITRESSE.

The latter, whose director was best-known at the time for hippyish fringe films with soundtracks by Pink Floyd, was eventually released theatrically to a small number of London cinemas only in 1976, the Board refusing it a general release elsewhere. Although BBFC notes from the time recognised that the film was of "some merit", the notion of fetishism coupled with the director’s serious, non-sensational depictions of such scenes didn’t sit well with them. Of course, it didn’t help that a couple of scenes were particularly graphic for their day too.

Finally released with cuts in 1981, it wasn’t until the British Film Institute (BFI) resubmitted the film for classification in 2003 that it managed to garner an uncut 18 certificate rating in the UK. Watching the film now, the controversy is still understandable … although, the effective 70s ban and subsequent early 80s cuts are not. The film does challenge, certainly, but it never transgresses into the realms of ‘obscenity’.

Indeed, there is no actual sex in the film. At least, not between Ariane and her clients. She may whip them, humiliate them, even force pins through their nipples … but they never fuck. And whenever she gets it on with Olivier, they enjoy love-making. And, possibly in a mark of respect for their mutual sensuality, Schroeder doesn’t allow their moments to become graphic.

The dominatrix scenes are never overtly explicit either. Yes, we get unsimulated whippings where the redness of arse cheeks is clearly visible. But, so what? The hammering of nails through genitalia (again, played out for real – genuine fetishists were cast as the clients) is more discomfiting, obviously. But it’s shot in medium frame and is nothing compared to a similar act performed by Bob Flanagan in SICK: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BOB FLANAGAN, SUPERMASICHIST (ironically, also released uncut by the BFI on the same day as this combo pack – but on DVD only). Even so … ouch.

MAITRESSE shouldn’t be explored too much for its history of controversy or infamous scenes of fetishism (besides, perhaps its most jarring scene today would be the abattoir footage of a horse being slaughtered). It’s more interesting, having stood the test of time, as an examination of identity (Ariane’s, specifically – split across three different travels of life), power (Olivier’s initially oblivious nature to his lack of it; Ariane’s superficial sale of it), sex (of course) and even counter culture (Olivier is the working class thug, naïve and easily shocked; Ariane’s clients are the perverse bourgeois – best illustrated in a darkly witty house party sequence that she takes him along to).

Outside of themes, the film is memorable for some great performances – Depardieu, surprisingly handsome in his youth, is very good – and exquisite cinematography. Largely devoid of musical score, the film maintains a pace and builds in dramatic impetus thanks to a tight narrative and compelling characters. If anything, the infrequent forays into sado-masochistic play hinder the pace. But not enough to spoil the overall momentum.

The BFI have previously released MAITRESSE uncut on UK DVD. Now, they give it a re-release with bonus features and the added attraction of a new High Definition makeover. Beating Criterion out of the gates (at the time of writing – November 2012 – Criterion have not yet announced plans to furnish Schroeder’s film with a US HD release), this release marks the worldwide debut of the film on blu-ray.

In actual fact, BFI have covered all bases by making this new release a 2-disc, future-proof blu-ray and DVD combo pack. I focused on the blu-ray disc (disc 1) for the purpose of my review.

This region B blu-ray disc is a 50GB dual-layered affair, offering MAITRESSE fully uncensored and as an MPEG4-AVC file in full 1080p HD resolution. The original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 has been respected and, as you’d expect, the picture comes equipped with 16x9 enhancement.

The print used is astonishingly clean, lending the BFI’s transfer a natural smoothness of texture which lends itself well to the neutral colour schemes of the Parisian exteriors and the garish twilight artiness of the mistress’s lair. Detail is fine throughout, especially in close-up scenes where the intricacies of facial features really are accentuated. Mild grain is pleasingly film-like and there is no unsavoury noise reduction to grumble of. This is a great, faithful restoration of MAITRESSE struck from the original 35mm inter-positive tapes; even if Criterion were to give the film the blu treatment, I doubt there’d be a discernible difference in transfer quality (and their release would most likely be region A locked …).

French audio PCM mono 2.0 is very clean and consistent, with all traces of hiss and pops ironed out. Optional English subtitles are free from typing errors and easily readable at all times.

The disc opens to a static main menu page. From here, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu offering access to the film via 15 chapters.

Extras begin with "Domestic Masochism", a highly watchable 28-minute video accompaniment to the main feature where film scholar Dr Patricia MacCormack speaks engagingly and convincingly about the film’s take on sexual attitudes at the time it was made. MacCormack manages to name-check Jess Franco when discussing the depiction of sado-masochism in 70s cinema, while Edward Lamberti also turns up to occasionally help with the analyses of the themes in Schroeder’s film. Interspersed with clips from the film that are shown in French but without subtitles, this featurette is presented in HD.

Next up we have original theatrical trailers for all three of the early Schroeder films that are currently available on blu-ray from BFI: MORE (3 minutes), THE VALLEY OBSCURED BY CLOUDS (4 minutes) and MAITRESSE (2 minutes). Each trailer is presented in HD, in its original language and with the benefit of optional English subtitles. All look great, although THE VALLEY is perhaps the least consistent of the three, thanks to occasional dull-looking and soft scenes.

Finally we get an excellent 32-page booklet which boasts further notes from MacCormack, along with contributions from BBFC censor Craig Lapper and, best of all, Schroeder. It’s a shame the director doesn’t feature on any of the disc’s extras, but at least his thoughts are preserved here – alongside some most welcome stills. Biographies for Schroeder, Depardieu and Ogier (the director’s sometime wife) are also good. The booklet is graced with the film’s original French theatrical artwork as its front cover, which would’ve made a much better cover for this blu-ray/DVD release than the photo used. Hey ho.

Also included in the package, of course, is a dual layer DVD (PAL, DVD9) containing the film along with the same bonus features in standard definition.

MAITRESSE may appear a tad "naïve" these days, as MacCormack puts it in the bonus featurette, but retains its solid dramatic intrigue and acutely observed mannerisms: the shock scenes may still hit first-time viewers, but it’s very difficult in 2012 to accuse Schroeder’s film of being excessive – or even, hardly, exploitative. It does, however, remain an engrossing and satisfyingly dark film. And it looks marvellous here.

Highly recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis