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To me, this movie is perfection.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

what a phony fine romance this is. and what about the fact that Gerard appears to totally slit someone's throat towards the end of the film? I mean, he's become a bit of a DRAG to the audience at this point, one can only imagine what his girlfriend thinks. and why can't she just tell him Gaultier is not her pimp and that he's probably investing her money? of course we don't know what's up with the bank acct he starts at her instruction. and when he's in the bank again... it's not at all clear what's up, is he retrieving chump change that's all that's left in the account to go leave as a valentine? if so, what's so moving about that? it just seems another instance of his being a complete idiot. for this film to succeed there needed to be some way of making their relationship more believable. it was interesting when he took charge with her once the dog was out of the room the first time. but when it ends up with him raping her and her kicking him out... it should have just stayed that way... the scene at the slaughter house was totally gratuitous, and since the process has been depicted in much better films, all the more so. the best part of this film was the fetish sequences, the rest of it was pure hokum.

Going into this movie, I was expecting a slightly typical "man finds subculture, man gets involved with subculture, man gets obsessed with subculture" story that tends to involve such things as this film portrays, S&M and the like. Actually, though the story is slightly structured along those lines, this movie has the audacity to bring something completely new into the mix: less a focus on the weirdness and ambiguity of a stigma subculture and more an analysis of an awkward kind of love... but a love it is.What's interesting in this movie is the relationship between the two leads--it's actually a very healthy and loving relationship, a better portrayal of a good relationship than I've seen in most movies and even in real life. These two actually seem to care for each other, make sacrifices for each other, and even when making mistakes forgive each other. What more could you ask for? The upstairs/downstairs imagery in this movie tends to provide analyses of "one world/other world" in reviews, but I'd like to point out that it's when the two of them leave the apartment entirely and go out into the forest (make their own world, so to speak), that they finally are completely together. Depardieu eating the horse meat may be a symbol of his need to be a victim too, but ultimately the relationship is not consumed by the alternative desires of the world below--the direction a narrative of this type tends to go. The two of them are ultimately not obsessed so much with the lower level or secure in the upper level as they just need somewhere to just be themselves, something they provide to each other but not get from others (Depardieu's character's subjection to peer pressure, Olgier's character's lack of actual sexual contact with her customers).The portrayal of S&M gets a lot of attention, of course, but I agree that Schroeder and his cinematographer did it very well... not too close and not too far. It's strikingly nonjudgmental and unemotional, leaving the drama and analysis to the characters and what it means to their relationship. It's a strong feat considering the aforementioned stigma.--PolarisDiB

*** NB: THIS COMMENT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. ***The costumes in particular are dismayingly authentic and convincing, recalling original fetish heroine Diana Rigg in 60's TV series 'The Avengers.' Spike-heel ankleboots, trousers, corset, cloak and gloves all in the sleekest of black leather; add to this a purple velvet shawl, a perfect black wig and Bull Ogier's timeless bemused innocence, and a masochist's screen starlet is born. Her spot-on kinkiness is, if anything, a more cultivated progression on her English predecessor: one gruesome episode aside, she does precisely all the things you wished Emma Peel would do. In short, Schroeder's feature's impact is greatest at its most simple and straightforwardly visual i.e. when Arianne dons the leathers, wields her whips and coolly dispenses the sport to her minions. If (like me) this is your chief interest in the film - and it might well be - then yes, certainly, do seek it out.

The big virtue of this movie is that it is a real movie, with a real story and a reasonable plot, with remarkable actors, which gives a nice introduction to some BDSM practices and lifestyle in quite a credible movie.I really recommend it if you want to raise the topic of BDSM with someone...