Masoch

This well-done biographical drama is a retelling of the life of writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, from whose name the word "masochism" was derived. Though the film certainly has its kinkier moments, it is hardly a pornographic picture. Dealing with the writer's marriage to a lower-class woman (well played by De Sapio), the story tells of the difficulties in their dominant-submissive marriage. Malco is the slave to his wife's demands and urges her to take lovers, which leads to the collapse of their marriage. She beats and humiliates her husband, all at his suggestion. Quite easily this could have drifted off into a sexual fantasy, but Taviani wisely uses the inhere...