Pola Rapaport is the filmmaker behind the unique documentary Writer of O. Through interviews and dramatizations this documentary tells the story of Dominique Aury the woman who wrote the controversial and sexually provocative Story of O. Written in France in the mid-50s, Story of O is about a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer who is in love with a man named Rene. As part of that intense love, she demands debasement and severe sexual and psychological tests.
Check out the official site for Writer of O
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Pola Rapaport: Im trying to finish a project Im editing about Howard Dean and the movement for Democracy.
DRE: Is Howard Dean involved?
PR: This filmmaker, Harriet Draper, followed Deans campaign the whole time he was doing the primaries in 2004 because she thought he might be the guy. She filmed it by herself and now Im doing the editing. She discovered how the media and the more conservative part of the Democratic Party tanked his campaign which was really supported by the public.
DRE: Do you put that time when he freaked out into context?
PR: In the footage you will see that he didnt freak out. It wasnt unusual at all, he was just showing enthusiasm and the press just distorted it. They were looking for something to sink him and that was it. They isolated this shout of enthusiasm and played it again and again. This film unmasks all that.
DRE: The way you made Writer of O is a very unique way of doing a documentary even for today.
PR: Ive been blending drama and documentary for a while. For Writer of O we brought in dramatized scenes from the book Story of O and from the writers life and interweaved them with the documentary. Ive been making films since high school and that area between fiction and non-fiction has always interested me. I always felt that fiction films were documentaries about the actors because the more truthful and authentic they were the closer it is to documentary. I like finding the areas where fiction and non-fiction overlap.
DRE: Has anyone ever wanted you to do a reality TV series?
PR: Im kind of prejudiced against the concept of reality shows because they are so far from reality. Im not doing one right now but its not out of the realm of possibility.
DRE: When did you know you were going to do Writer of O in this fashion?
PR: I knew Dominique Aury would be a good center to the film. When I started thinking about what the structure could be but doing a feature length film it seemed to me that it would be essentially to put in quotations from the book. In order to support those quotations I had to think of something visual and to dramatize certain scenes would be the way to do it. Then later on I thought it would be so great to have images from her life in her 40s which is how old she was when she wrote the book. Thats when we came up with that idea.
DRE: What did Dominique Aury think of Writer of O?
PR: She didnt see it before she died. However she did agree to the notion of doing the film but she was an extremely modest person. She shied away from the publicity of her own book for 40 years. I dont think she would have given the interview to the British journalist that broke the story of her writing the book if she would have known the publicity it would have received. I think she really enjoyed the clandestine existence she had carved out for herself.
DRE: How was it to get to hang out with Dominique Aury?
PR: Very extraordinary. She was so modest. The Story of O was a brief period in her life when she was writing a love letter to a man that she really wanted to keep as her lover. Her main literary interest was much more about things like 17th century French religious poetry [laughs]. She was this incredible bundle of contradictions. She studied this philosopher Fenelon who had this philosophy of Quietism. That idea was about the complete giving up of yourself towards god even though I dont think Dominique Aury was religious at all. But she found that notion of giving over yourself to someone else very interesting. She does it in Storey of O through sexuality but it can be done in other ways. She makes this outrageous comment in the movie, There is very little difference between prayer and love and she means sexual love. In both of them you give yourself entirely to the other person which I think she saw as very similar human urges.
DRE: So she had nothing like say paintings with tasteful nudity in her house?
PR: Oh no, it was a beautiful villa about an hour outside Paris. It had a nice garden and the house had a couple of sculptures and a big photograph of her lover Jean Paulhan on the wall. There was no dungeon in the house. It was filled with books because she was a complete intellectual.
DRE: Has making this movie influenced how you want to do your next film?
PR: There is a story I now want to do as a dramatic film. I was thinking about doing another film, possibly on Van Gogh that would mix documentary and fiction. My films will probably always have both elements in them.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official site for Writer of O
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Pola Rapaport: Im trying to finish a project Im editing about Howard Dean and the movement for Democracy.
DRE: Is Howard Dean involved?
PR: This filmmaker, Harriet Draper, followed Deans campaign the whole time he was doing the primaries in 2004 because she thought he might be the guy. She filmed it by herself and now Im doing the editing. She discovered how the media and the more conservative part of the Democratic Party tanked his campaign which was really supported by the public.
DRE: Do you put that time when he freaked out into context?
PR: In the footage you will see that he didnt freak out. It wasnt unusual at all, he was just showing enthusiasm and the press just distorted it. They were looking for something to sink him and that was it. They isolated this shout of enthusiasm and played it again and again. This film unmasks all that.
DRE: The way you made Writer of O is a very unique way of doing a documentary even for today.
PR: Ive been blending drama and documentary for a while. For Writer of O we brought in dramatized scenes from the book Story of O and from the writers life and interweaved them with the documentary. Ive been making films since high school and that area between fiction and non-fiction has always interested me. I always felt that fiction films were documentaries about the actors because the more truthful and authentic they were the closer it is to documentary. I like finding the areas where fiction and non-fiction overlap.
DRE: Has anyone ever wanted you to do a reality TV series?
PR: Im kind of prejudiced against the concept of reality shows because they are so far from reality. Im not doing one right now but its not out of the realm of possibility.
DRE: When did you know you were going to do Writer of O in this fashion?
PR: I knew Dominique Aury would be a good center to the film. When I started thinking about what the structure could be but doing a feature length film it seemed to me that it would be essentially to put in quotations from the book. In order to support those quotations I had to think of something visual and to dramatize certain scenes would be the way to do it. Then later on I thought it would be so great to have images from her life in her 40s which is how old she was when she wrote the book. Thats when we came up with that idea.
DRE: What did Dominique Aury think of Writer of O?
PR: She didnt see it before she died. However she did agree to the notion of doing the film but she was an extremely modest person. She shied away from the publicity of her own book for 40 years. I dont think she would have given the interview to the British journalist that broke the story of her writing the book if she would have known the publicity it would have received. I think she really enjoyed the clandestine existence she had carved out for herself.
DRE: How was it to get to hang out with Dominique Aury?
PR: Very extraordinary. She was so modest. The Story of O was a brief period in her life when she was writing a love letter to a man that she really wanted to keep as her lover. Her main literary interest was much more about things like 17th century French religious poetry [laughs]. She was this incredible bundle of contradictions. She studied this philosopher Fenelon who had this philosophy of Quietism. That idea was about the complete giving up of yourself towards god even though I dont think Dominique Aury was religious at all. But she found that notion of giving over yourself to someone else very interesting. She does it in Storey of O through sexuality but it can be done in other ways. She makes this outrageous comment in the movie, There is very little difference between prayer and love and she means sexual love. In both of them you give yourself entirely to the other person which I think she saw as very similar human urges.
DRE: So she had nothing like say paintings with tasteful nudity in her house?
PR: Oh no, it was a beautiful villa about an hour outside Paris. It had a nice garden and the house had a couple of sculptures and a big photograph of her lover Jean Paulhan on the wall. There was no dungeon in the house. It was filled with books because she was a complete intellectual.
DRE: Has making this movie influenced how you want to do your next film?
PR: There is a story I now want to do as a dramatic film. I was thinking about doing another film, possibly on Van Gogh that would mix documentary and fiction. My films will probably always have both elements in them.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
missy:
Pola Rapaport is the filmmaker behind the unique documentary Writer of O. Through interviews and dramatizations this documentary tells the story of Dominique Aury the woman who wrote the controversial and sexually provocative Story of O. Written in France in the mid-50s, Story of O is about a beautiful...
6underground:
I loved the book. Thanks to the BDSM group for suggesting it! Good interview. 
Can't wait to see the documentary when it hits the UK shores.
Can't wait to see the documentary when it hits the UK shores.