Lovelace

LOVELACE

Directors : Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

Year : 2013

Genre : Drama

Rating : ***

On the face of it, 'Lovelace' could be a rather sleazy and exploitative look at the life of the most famous porn star ever to walk the Earth. But thanks to fantastic performances from it's cast, a respectful and concealed directorial style and a story that is far more intense and shocking than we would be led to believe, 'Lovelace' is actually a very powerful and eye opening biopic that manages to explore the life and career of Linda Lovelace; a life that was full of promise, depravity and above all, hideous domestic abuse. Directed by filmmaking partners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, 'Lovelace' is a very affecting, if not disjointed affair that features an astonishing performance from Amanda Seyfried, a terrifyingly creepy and abusive turn from the usually sombre and controlled Peter Sarsgaard and a reserved but realistically written screenplay from Andy Bellin, 'Lovelace' is an engaging, tragic and sometimes harrowing look at the life of a woman who become synonymous with pornography and whose life was ruined by one moment of lust.

After dancing provocatively in a roller skate disco, a young  Linda Boreman (Seyfried) is approached by amateur filmmaker Chuck Traynor (Sarsgaard) who sweeps her off her feet and the pair begin a turbulent and forbidden relationship. After six months of marriage, Boreman finds herself watching one of her husbands homemade porn movies and after being arrested for soliciting prostitution, Chuck holds Linda at gunpoint and demands that she sells her own body for sex. After showing a group of porn producers a homemade video of Linda performing oral sex on Chuck one night, she is immediately cast in the starring role in 'Deep Throat', a film that would make her an overnight sensation.

It is interesting that in 2013 we have had both this and 'The Look Of Love' which also focused on the pornography industry, but whereas the latter remained largely ambivalent towards the adult entertainment industry, 'Lovelace' certainly demonises the entire world of hardcore erotica. From it's disturbingly but brilliantly realised grungy atmosphere to it's growing air of ever - enveloping entrapment, 'Lovelace' clearly knows where it stands on the controversial issue of the existence of the entire pornography industry. Portraying it as a massively misogynistic industry, Friedman and Epstein's camera work averts our eyes from the material that was once considered to be thrilling and arousing and this does make us question our own views and ideologies. Rather than focusing on the making of the now infamous 'Deep Throat', 'Lovelace' focuses a lot more of it's running time on the abuse carried out by Chuck and how Linda was forced to take part in many terrible acts of self degradation and in some parts, even rape. These scenes are suitably difficult to watch and although the directors manage to portray this both realistically and respectively, they are however extremely harrowing to watch, as they indeed should be. Through both Seyfried and Sarsgaard performances, we are pulled into the world of 1970's erotica, realised beautifully through the gorgeous cinematography and nostalgic sensibilities and as a pair, the two work very well together. Sadly, the movie itself does feel rather insignificant and unremarkable thanks to it's televisual aesthetics and pacing and if it wasn't for the two very strong central performances, 'Lovelace' would be a rather formulaic and paint by numbers biopic.