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Les Fruits de la Passion
Fruits of Passion
Shanghai Ijin Shokan - China Doll / Die Früchte der Leidenschaft
France/Japan 1981
produced by
Anatole Dauman, Hiroko Govars, Eiko Kujo for Argos Films, Terayama Productions
directed by Shuji Terayama
starring Isabelle Illiers, Klaus Kinski, Arielle Dombasle, Peter (aka Pita), Keiko Niitaka, Sayoko Yamaguchi, Miyuki Ono, Yuka Kamebuchi, Kenichi Nakamura, Akiro Suetsugu, Renji Ishibashi, Takeshi Wakamatsu, Maria Meriko, Makiko Hirasawa, Kaoru Iinuma, Keiko Asano, Toshihiko Hino, Toshiya Fujita, Kimiaki Makino, Yuichi Minato, Akira Shoji, Taiji Tonoyama, Hosei Komatsu, Yoko Ran
screenplay by Shuji Terayama, Rio Kishida, based on the novel Retour à Roissy by Dominique Aury (as Pauline Réage), music by J.A. Seazer
Story of O
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Hong Kong, the 1920's: O (Isabelle Illiers) is sent to a brothel by her
lover/master Steven (Klaus Kinski), where she has to prove her love to him
- by having sex with every man who has enough money to afford it. To
spice things up a bit, Steven forbids her to try to get in touch with him
on her own account - though he makes sure she hears all the gossip about
him, living with his new girlfriend Natalie (Arielle Dombasle) nearby.
Once, he even forces O to watch him having sex with Natalie. However,
Natalie will never be able to take O's place, because she doesn't share
Steve and O's philosophy of total abandonment. While working in the
kitchen next door, young Ogaku (Kenichi Nakamura) couldn't help but notice
O, the girl who sadly stares out of her roof window for hours. He has
become so infatuated by her over the days and weeks that he now tries to
buy an hour of her love ... but he is thrown out by the brothel's madam
(transvestite Peter) when it turns out he fails to come up with sufficient
money. So to earn enough money, he joins a rebel group that wants to throw
all foreigners out of Hong Kong, without ever questioning their goals
(after all, O is a foreigner as well). Interestingly, Steve, who's of
course also a foreigner, has supported the group financially, but now they
have started committing terrorist acts, he ceases his payments, which ends
with him being brutally beaten up by the rebels and robbed of everything
he had. Ogaku on the other hand is rich now, so he virtually buys O's
freedom - but Steve witnesses their lovemaking and ultimately shoots Ogaku
dead ... One has to point out here, even though Fruits of
Passion is based on the sequel to the book Story of O, it's not
a sequel to Story of O from
1975 - actually, Fruits of Passion tries (and mostly succeeds) in
staying clear of the "tasteful sleaze" feel of the earlier film
and instead notorious director Shuja Terayama presents us with
overpowering and bizarre tableaus of sex and violence where thew overall
atmosphere is often heightened by absurd details like cutout figures as
well as avant guard colour charts and the like. Plus, some of the sex
scenes consciously push the envelope (Klaus Kinski claims in his biography
this was filmed hard-core, and based on his sex scene with Arielle
Dombasle and one or two other scenes, he might not be lieing here).
This all results in a definite feast for the eyes - at least if you're
into the slightly absurd and provocative -, but (and here the film is very
much like Story of O) somehow
the characters of the film seem to get lost somewhere in the process, are
little more than cardboard cutouts with little to say that's not a
clichée. This all is not to say the film isn't at least watchable, it's
actually even great occasionally, it's just ... well, definitely no
masterpiece.
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amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Fruits of Passion at adultvideouniverse.com
