Lovelace (2013)
Directed by Rob Epstein
Story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.
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How astonishing it is to recall the absurd perversion of morality that led Deep Throat, Lovelace’s most famous film, to become a massive mainstream success in 1972.
At times, it’s only Linda’s hairstyle that really tells us where we are in the story: “ah, it’s the big corkscrew perm, so we’re post-marriage, but pre ‘Deep Throat.’
It's not, as the generic beats of Andy Bellin's Lifetime-movie-grade script and the camera's minimal witness to the physical abuse and sexual assault in the life of Linda Lovelace (née Boreman), star of the 1972 porn smash Deep Throat, flatten and dilute her story of victimization and redemption.
That movie became Deep Throat.
It gets about halfway to being a great movie about an ambiguous cultural icon, and then gets stuck between modes: Partly it’s a good-times-gone-wrong period fable in the vein of “Boogie Nights,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” or “Goodfellas,” and partly it’s a classed-up Lifetime melodrama about a woman who’s victimized and prostituted by a powerful husband.
(See Star 80, The Notorious Bettie Page , the roman à clef aspects of Boogie Nights, etc.) Lovelace has the relatively novel idea of dividing its mythmaking and moralizing into almost entirely separate acts, courtesy of a metafictional sleight of hand.
For a while, the script by Andy Bellin ("Trust") parallels "Boogie Nights" too strongly, and despite Seyfried's commanding performance "Lovelace" struggles to connect the dots -- more in terms of how Linda moved on after her brief stardom than how she wound up there in the first place.
Lovelace‘s cast is clearly having a great (R-rated) time in period wigs, outfits, and dance moves, looking a lot how the porn industry was portrayed in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997).
The only real similarity it has with Paul Thomas Anderson’s well-crafted “Boogie Nights” is that in each film, pornography is financed and made by greasy white guys.
Opening with disco rollerskating and a Boogie Nights font, Lovelace tricks us into thinking it's a retro romp starring Hollywood's most literally wide-eyed ingenue, the otherworldly beauty Amanda Seyfried.
The filmmakers' best idea was to feature Eric Roberts in a cameo, but "Lovelace" is a far cry from "Star 80."
Supporting roles are expertly filled by such talented actors as Hank Azaria, Chris Noth, Bobby Cannavale , and Adam Brody, with a brief appearance by Eric Roberts as a reminder of a not-dissimilar story, Star 80. I’ve already read complaints that the film doesn’t tell enough of the Deep Throat backstory (which is well covered in the documentary Inside Deep Throat), or that we don’t learn enough about Lovelace’s youth, later problems, and outspoken campaign against pornography and sexual abuse.
This story follows the similar path of Bob Fosse's lacerating 1983 biopic "Star 80" in which Eric Roberts' abusive husband shotguned to death his sexy wife, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratton (Mariel Hemingway), rather than lose control of her.
Suddenly, it’s Star 80 minus Bob Fosse’s artistic eye and Eric Roberts’ creepshow turn as Paul Snider.
Rather than follow the Boogie Nights template, Lovelace evokes Bob Fosse’s thematically similar Star 80 in its intimate take on the partnership between a violent hustler and the naïve, suggestible woman he feels the need to abuse and control.
The rest of Lovelace is strangely superficial and remote, constantly evoking two other, far better movies: Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson’s exuberant look at the adult film industry, and Star 80, Bob Fosse’s recounting of the death of Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten at the hands of the opportunist who “discovered” her.
(For that, you’ll need to rent Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s excellent, NC-17-rated documentary “Inside Deep Throat.’’)
The emphasis is less on Deep Throat’s cultural legacy as a crossover hit, feminist talking point, and Watergate code word (all covered at length in 2005’s Inside Deep Throat) than on the psychological trauma faced by Lovelace herself, and on that level, the film is strong.
The cast and crew of the porn phenomenon enjoy the publicity, which explodes into an international, mainstream sensation, as documented in Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s Inside Deep Throat (2005).
For a sense of just how repressive the culture was (various jurisdictions prosecuted the “Deep Throat” folks for obscenity), check out the 2005 documentary, “Inside Deep Throat.”
It’s also telling that “ Inside Deep Throat ,” a well-received 2005 documentary looking at the cultural impact of the 1972 film , spent most of its energy examining the role of “Deep Throat” — and, by extension, Lovelace — in the sexual revolution, giving only scant attention to her allegations.
In that respect, the film comes off as a much-needed corrective to the 2005 documentary Inside Deep Throat, which offered a fizzy, upbeat take on the making of Deep Throat and the film’s strange afterlife.
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Instead, “Lovelace” is more along the lines of “Rated X” (about Marilyn Chambers and her “Behind the Green Door” directors), “Wonderland” (about John Holmes) or even “Auto Focus” (about Bob Crane).
Each gets a George C. Scott "Hardcore " moment of tearful teeth-gnashing at what's become of their daughter but also, refreshingly, at their role in her desperate spiral.
Watching "Lovelace," which takes great care not to push its luck sexually or otherwise, you get the feeling you may have had watching Paul Schrader's "Auto Focus" (about "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane and his sad, swingin' sexual exploits).
Much less-artfully done than, say, Boogie Nights or Auto Focus (clearly, the directors [documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman] of Lovelace are no P.T. Anderson or Paul Schrader), the movie starts off with the seduction and winds up with the disenchantment.
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (the mostly non-fiction filmmakers whose previous credits include "The Times of Harvey Milk" and "The Celluloid Closet") the movie has a curious, and not particularly successful structure, however.
ENLARGE Amanda Seyfried in 'Lovelace' RADIUS-TWC Based on the harrowing memoir of the former Linda Susan Boreman—aka Linda Lovelace, poster girl for "porn chic" back when the term didn't seem quite so ridiculous—the film is the work of two directors who have focused previously on gay subjects: Rob Epstein, of the monumental "The Times of Harvey Milk" (1984); and Jeffrey Friedman, who has co-directed/edited with Mr. Epstein since their "Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt" (1989).
Given their combined track record of documentaries chronicling oppression such as The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads, one might guess that Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman believe their second dramatic feature, Lovelace, to be sufficiently hard-hitting and harrowing to watch.
Lauded for their popular documentary work based around the gay experience in America (notably The Times of Harvey Milk and The Celluloid Closet), Epstein and Friedman bring that much needed authentic touch with a soundtrack of 70s hits and great hair/make-up/costumes (all shot on grainy Super 16 film) taking us back to the bad ol’ days of Nixon, Vietnam and of course Deep Throat.
Lovelace is a feature film, written by Andy Bellin and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who made The Times of Harvey Milk in 1984.
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (the mostly non-fiction filmmakers whose previous credits include "The Times of Harvey Milk" and "The Celluloid Closet") the movie has a curious, and not particularly successful structure, however.
The busy-but-dour drama by co-directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (Howl, The Celluloid Closet) bypasses the titillation of Boogie Nights in telling the story of Linda Lovelace, aka Porn Superstar Number One, leading lady of the epochal 1972 XXX fuck-flick Deep Throat.
Following Bellin's script, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who made the "The Celluloid Closet" (still their best) and "Howl," open with an chipper and sunny Lovelace out on the patio with her best friend in Florida, blithely making the best of a tough situation living under the same roof with her scowling, disapproving parents, played by Robert Patrick and a drabbed-down, careworn Sharon Stone.
It’s hard to scrimp much more enthusiasm to describe what’s on screen in this lukewarm, half-hearted, essentially dull biography of sorts from documentary-teethed directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (“Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt”; “The Celluloid Closet,” “Howl”).
In the new biopic, Lovelace, directors Robb Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman perhaps best known for their documentaries on famed San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, the aftermath of AIDS (Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt) and homosexuality in cinema (The Celluloid Closet) offer a seemingly unique approach to storytelling that ultimately undermines everything the film wants to say.
Directed by documentary vets Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet), the film first depicts Boreman as an empowered girl next door who inspired ''porno chic,'' partied with Hugh Hefner (James Franco), and betrayed her Catholic mom (an unrecognizable Sharon Stone).
Working with an excellent cast, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (“Howl”) — telling and retelling the story from different angles — deliver an intriguing tale even if they can’t quite get to the crucial question: Who was Linda Lovelace?
Directors Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman ("Howl") have attempted to make a 70's style film about the infamous porn actress turned anti-porn crusader, but instead cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards' ("Couples Retreat") Super 16mm lensing is inconsistent and the movie plays more like a made-for-Lifetime TV biopic than an artifact of the era.
As upsetting as that is, the script by Andy Bellin (whose Howl was also directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman) leaves out much of Traynor’s earlier brutality as her pimp that she frankly detailed in her memoir Ordeal in 1980.
Their previous release was “Howl,” the biopic that starred James Franco as the poet Allen Ginsberg.
"Boogie Nights" skillfully alternated comedic and tragic highlights, but "Lovelace," written by Andy Bellin and directed by the team of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (who specialize in documentaries, and also directed " Howl "), has an apparent anti-smut agenda.
The directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman previously made the unconventional Allen Ginsberg bio-movie “Howl,” starring James Franco as the famed Beat poet whose writing went to trial on obscenity charges.
When Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" was released in 1962, it drummed up curiosity with the tagline "How did they ever make a movie of 'Lolita'?"
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It can’t be coincidence that the Lovelace cast includes two actors who had their own sordid screen sexploits: Stone’s notorious money shot in Basic Instinct and Chloë Sevigny’s infamous oral sex scene in The Brown Bunny.
In its second half, the film circles back for a much darker look at Lovelace’s life in an apparent attempt to make the audience feel guilty for getting a kick out of any of what they have already seen, a cheap narrative trick put to much better use by Alfred Hitchcock in the classic “Psycho.”