itamarscomix There's no point in serious argument about whether or not The Image is pornography, because it clearly is. Though it may not be considered hardcore pornography in the sense that there's no penetration shown on-screen, the sexual content is more explicit and shocking than any porn you've ever seen, to the point of going beyond arousing and into repulsive.But The Image is also unmistakably art, and it's one of the few films that managed to merge the two successfully, much more so than the soft erotic dramas which were a dime a dozen in the 70's and 80's. Rather than just romanticizing sex, The Image is a disturbing and intelligent film about domination and sexual psychology, and in between the sex scenes you'll find surprising amounts of character development and a tight script (excluding the god-awful narration, which I could really do without); add to that excellent acting from the three leads - especially Rebecca Brooke, who truly sells her performance with her shockingly convincing face and body language (not to mention how gorgeous and sensual she is), and gorgeous cinematography which juxtaposes the brutal violence of the acts with the pastoral and serene French backdrops, to a truly eerie and enticing result.It goes without saying that The Image isn't for everyone. It succeeds as pornography - being enticing and arousing even for those with barely even a fleeting whimsical interest in S&M - but it's also very disturbing and difficult to watch. But if you can stomach it, it's definitely recommended.

Michael_Elliott The Image (1975) *** (out of 4) Jean (Carl Parker) runs into an old friend (Marilyn Roberts) at a party and soon she's teaching him about her slave Anne (Rebecca Brooke) and before long both are taking part in the S&M practices. Radley Metzger's erotic film isn't going to be for everyone but those who enjoy watching these older adult movies should find this one here to have quite a few good touches. Metzger would push the hardcore genre more mainstream a couple years later with THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVER and while this film here isn't nearly as good you can still see the blossoming of the young director as he was experimenting with more erotic films. I think the best thing about this movie is the direction by Metzger because he certainly isn't just trying to deliver some sort of bump and grind movie and instead he's pushing something more classy. Now I'm not going to sit here as some sort of snob and say this is better than your typical porn movie because it isn't. Those mindless sex pictures serve their purpose and I think a film like this one has its own purpose so comparing the two or ripping one while praising the other would be pointless. There's no doubt that this movie is extremely well made and there's a certain craft and style to appreciate. This is especially true with the editing, which really takes the movie to a whole new level. The way the sex scenes were edited gave them a certain atmosphere and really made you feel the dirty, erotic sense to all of it. The three actors all do fine work with their roles but it's doubtful people are coming to this for performances. I'm sure some might find some sort of message but to me THE IMAGE was simply a well-made porn film and there's nothing wrong with that.

TerribleAngelRosary "The Image", or "The Punishment of Anne" is a sly piece of art porn that deals with the themes of sadomasochism and sex slavery ("She belongs to me" is the phrase that Claire uses to introduce her young, bisexual, submissive girlfriend to the sleazy Jean).Though it could be worth it for the "gothic chamber" sequence alone, in which a not too slightly modified chandelier is used as an upper arts constrictor and both a cat o' nine tails and a set of needles have a prominent role, there come a shamelessly amusing biblical quote ("Forgive me, for I know what I do" before a whipping session, instead of "Forgive them, for they don't know what they do" before Christ's crucifixion!) and a very convincing Anne staring in a waiter's eyes while her two sadist friends fist f**k her under the gown and order the food.Even though the narrating voice and the unnecessary oral sex got me really bored in the first place, and the ending is kind of disappointing (why not take the s and m thing to its extreme consequences?), the high entertainment value of some tricks, and the visual beauty and almost disturbing pace of the infamous torture chamber scene place this straight down on the annals of erotic cinema.

B B (ee-films-director) A romantic S/M story, that is rather elegant filmed and show naughty games with a beautiful young lady... Yes, she look a lot more lovely, than the bad picture on the DVD's front cover.But this film is partly too slow, has only a few rather interesting scenes, some S/M scenes are actually silly (type not authentic) and the deeply fascinating masterpiece "Histoire d'O" is dramatically better in every way, even if that one show mush less explicit ordinary sex and even if many critics seem to regard this film, as the ultimate S/M erotica! In other hand, is the basic story more realistic and possible a slightly better introduction to S/M games, compared with "Histoire d'O" and the film may be worth a second view...