LOVELACE

US, 2013, 92 minutes, Colour.
Amanda Seyfried, Peeta Saarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Chris Noth, Hank Azariah.
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

Much more to this film than might have been first thought. And it is a film that needs to be seen right until the end.

For those who remember the seventies, there will be a curiosity to learn something about Linda Lovelace, the star of the multi-million dollar box-office porn movie, Deep Throat. For those who don’t remember it, the film will offer some insight into the public image and the private reality of the young Florida woman who was persuaded to perform in the film.

Amanda Seyfried is a long way from Cosette and Mamma Mia’s daughter as Linda Lovelace. She gives a very good performance. Peeta Sarsgaard is also very convincing as her charming then brutish husband. The film-makers have persuaded quite a number of Hollywood character actors to play supporting roles, the surprising one being an unrecognisable Sharon Stone as Linda’s mother. James Franco is Hugh Hefner. Hank Azariah is the director, Gerard Damiano. Chris Noth has a significant role as an organized crime producer of Deep Throat.

By halfway through the film when Linda takes a bow at Hugh Hefner’s private screening of the film, we have an impression of a rather naïve young woman, susceptible to her mother’s strict Catholic injunctions about a wife obeying her husband, a woman who is cautiously fun-loving at first, but then under the sway of her irresponsible husband who persuades her to be in the film and makes his pitch to the company which is trying to bring some ‘art’ into the pornography industry.

There is a lot of smooth and double talk about art and the movies, about what audiences want and about sex. Linda seems swept up in the talk, doing what Chuck wants and enjoying the popularity.

And then there is the other half of the film.

Linda is taking a polygraph test since her publishers want to know whether what she has written in Ordeal is fact of fiction. Now we see the flashbacks. Her mother is not quite the dragon lady of the first half, though not prone to express emotions. Chuck is definitely the exploitative monster. He dominates his wife, even raising money by prostituting her. He pressures her into making the film. He is particularly violent and abusive after the Hefner party. This is the picture of the naïve young woman who cannot get out of the clutches of her husband.

Perhaps the truth is a mixture of both.

Lovelace is certainly no endorser of pornography. It shows the business side of the industry and its successes commercially, but, as the ageing star (Debi Mazar) tells Linda, as you grow older you need to have developed other skills, otherwise…

The book is published. Linda is married and has a son. The epilogue reminds us that Linda Marchiani (her married name) campaigned against pornography and domestic violence for 20 years before her untimely death at 53 as a result of injuries that she suffered in a car accident. She regretfully notes at one stage that she spent 17 days on the film but that this was what she was remembered for.

1. Audience knowledge of Linda Lovelace, Deep Throat? The 1970s, the context, the controversies? The success of the film?

2. The portrait of Linda Lovelace, the two halves of the film? The public image, the private life? Her book, Ordeal? The truth somewhere in the middle, perhaps?

3. The films and evocation of the early 1970s, President Nixon, war in Vietnam, the TV hosts of the period, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope…?

4. The film’s attitude towards pornography and the industry? Pre-1970s? Gerard Damiano and the new directors, change, making it more popular? Cinema releases, talk and television, pre-video? Attitudes towards sex and sexuality? Portrayals? The target audience, men? The use of the casts? Tough, ageing? Later decades, debates, availability?

5. The first half of the film and its portrait of Linda? Catholic girl, strict mother, policeman father? Her pregnancy, the adoption of her child, experience of the loss? Her age, naïve? Patsy and her friendship? Going out, the discipline of the house, her lack of discipline, the roller-skating club, the girls dancing? Meeting Chuck, his talk, taking Linda out, the attraction? His coming to dinner and the bet about Linda’s mother’s response? The ‘nice young man’? Linda spending the night with him, leaving home, marrying?

6. Her knowing little about sex, her disgust? Patsy and sex? Chuck and his guiding her, the home movies, the promotion of her sexual abilities? Linda and her attitudes towards sex, pornography, the prim audition, Chuck showing the video, her decision?

7. The making of Deep Throat? Harry Reems and his career, reputation? his attitudes towards film and pornography? The producer and his leering attitude? Anthony, providing the money, the possible Mafia connections? The veteran star and her doing makeup, discussions with Linda, Chuck and his control, the scenes and the jokes, their being replayed throughout the film? Reems, performance and its sexual effect? The producer asking Chuck to leave and to get film from Miami? The filming of the car sequence? The success of the filming?

8. All the film and its release? The reviews, the queues for the screenings, the broad response, television interviews, Hugh Hefner, Linda taking the bow at the special screening?

9. Chuck, his character, shady, lies, the prison sequence, running prostitutes, his money, forcing Linda into the film? His being ousted, jealousy?

10. Chuck and Linda in the room, the wiring of the room, the party listening in, the lewd attitudes, behavior, comment on the film-makers?

11. Anthony, tough, the issue of money, investment, Chuck and his saying he had ideas, Anthony threatening him?

12. Linda’s mother, father, watching the television interviews, the shame, the meal, the antagonism towards the Linda?

13. The second part, the polygraph tests, the tester, his questions, the flashbacks, her passing the test, her books, ordeal, being published?

14. Audience expectations of this second part of? How effective? Seeing the same episodes, yet differently? Another side of the same story?

15. Six years passing? The book company and its risks, the tests, Linda’s relief at her passing the test?

16. A different picture of Linda, her baby, the abortion, her mother and her religious values? The New York policeman, moving to Florida, family shame? His working in security?

17. The picture of Chuck, the meeting with Linda, his personality, his deceptions? Marrying Linda? Love for her? Exploiting her sexually? His secrets, control? The deal with the film-makers? His clients and forcing Linda to have sexual relationships, prostitution? The same words, but a different slant on them?

18. The portrait of the director, the producer, Anthony? Exploitation? The making of the car scene? The perspective on Harry Reems? The overall effect on Linda?

19. The publicity, television, tree, the screening for Hugh Hefner, his approach to her, lewd?

20. Chuck, his anger, the violence towards Linda, his leaving, the irony of his marrying Marilyn Chambers, the porn film star?

21. The aftermath for Linda, her marrying, the support of her husband, the family, her condemnations of Deep Throat? Of pornography? Of domestic violence? Her work, television interviews, reconciliation with her mother (and her mother’s continuing emotional reserve, tragedy of her death in the accident, her influence?

22. The film showing a phenomenon, behind the scenes of the phenomenon? Public glitz but human cost?