After
the struggles I had with my concentration watching “Rhino Season”, I joked with
a friend that I was glad my next film was a Hollywood production because there
would be no reason to concentrate.
Although an obviously pissy remark to make, it turned out to be quite
prophetic and not because of the negative.
It turned out that “Lovelace”, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey
Friedman’s account of the making of the adult hit “Deep Throat” and the years
of torment and abuse its star had to face in the years following, was a very
entertaining film and Linda Lovelace’s story was so enthralling that my mind
never wondered once.
“Lovelace”
begins in the early 70’s where we are introduced to our titular character; a
sweet, naïve girl who at the mere mention of sex, gets totally
embarrassed. One day at a party on the
beach with her best friend Patsy, Linda meets up with the dashing and totally
charismatic Chuck. He immediately falls
for the shy girl and attempts to pursue her eventually succeeding. One night after staying out later than
expected with Chuck, Linda arrives home to her overbearing mother when a fight
breaks out between them and ends with Linda being slapped across the face. This act of violence is the catalyst that
sees Linda moving out of home and living with Chuck, and the two eventually
marry. Sometime later though the couple
are having trouble; Chuck owes money to people everywhere and he comes up with
the idea to offer his wife to perform in an adult film due to a unique
technique she has in the bedroom. The
film was “Deep Throat” and history shows us that the film was a massive success
making millions in profit. From this
film we witness how in a matter of months, Lovelace has become a massive
celebrity and reveling in the glitz and glamour of the world. Suddenly we are thrown into a room where
Linda is taking a lie-detector test for her new book, and we are then witness
to the same story again from the start, but this time we are given the real and
very sad facts of the girl known as Linda Lovelace, the making of “Deep Throat”
and the consequences that followed the making of such an iconic film.
When
“Lovelace” began, I sat there watching the film and I was shocked. I could not believe that they had made the
making of “Deep Throat” into a comedy, and what shocked me more was how much I
was enjoying it. At the same time I was
thinking, this is the film that Lovelace claimed she was repeatedly raped on
and because of this she was an outspoken person against pornography for the
rest of her life; how did they have the balls to make this film into a
comedy? It then gets to that point in
the film when everything changes, Linda is on the lie-detector and we go
through the story again, but this time it is presented in a much different
light. Gone are the laughs and all that
remains is a total sadness. Suddenly the
film becomes a serious drama and my respect for it rose greatly as I realized
that we were initially given the story the way it was originally presented to
the American public when “Deep Throat” premiered and then juxtaposing it with
what really happened. The contrast
between the two stories is shocking. The
first is presented as if the making of “Deep Throat” was all glamour and
parties, laughing and love. It made
Linda into a star and was loved the world over because of it. The second half shows a much darker storyline
about a woman suffering from constant spousal abuse, rape and the constant
stigma for being in a film she was forced to make by her husband; being the
butt of everyone’s joke, and it is an incredibly sad side of the story.
Setting
aside the weightless roles she normally finds herself playing, Amanda Seyfried
is electric as the troubled Lovelace.
The role gives her the opportunity to show the whole gamut of emotions
and she nails them all. The first half
of the film she is so bubbly and energetic and full of fun, loving the chance
to make this iconic porn film. When the
film becomes the dark drama it does in the second half, we really get to see
Seyfried’s acting chops particularly in a very painful scene between her and
her mother (an unrecognizable Sharon Stone) when she pleads with her to let her
come home for a couple of days. It is
all in her eyes; the fear, the sadness, the desperation to do anything to get
out of the trouble she has found herself in, only to have her mother tell her
that her place is by the side of her husband, sending her straight back to the
hell she has come from. The performance
that steals the film though is Peter Sarsgaard as the abusive Chuck. He is both as charming as a fox (making it
very easy to see how Linda initially fell in love with this scumbag) and as
terrifying as anything at different times in the film. There are moments late in this film where
Sarsgaard literally scared me; he was so believable as this despicable man who
was willing to force his wife into anything if it would help him out in the
long run. There is one shot of him just
standing there, staring at Linda, and the evil behind those eyes just sent
chills down my spine. The rest of the
film is littered with cameos and small roles from well known actors like Hank
Azaria, Adam Brody, Chloe Sevigny, Juno Temple, Robert Patrick and Chris Noth
and they are all excellent; if nothing else “Lovelace” is a well acted film, but
James Franco has been terribly miscast as a young(er) Hugh Hefner, and his
performance is actually embarrassing.
While
there is some actual debate as to whether or not Linda Lovelace’s take on what
happened on the making of “Deep Throat” is the truth or just a revisionist take
on history after her fifteen minutes had faded, the events presented in the
film made me a believer and it all seemed very real. “Lovelace” is such a sad tale and has more
heartbreaking scenes in a single film than I can remember. The very painful scene when Linda talks to
her father on the phone after he has just walked out of her movie, the scene
when she asks her mother for help only to be sent back to her husband, the
scene when she thinks she is about to be saved by the police only to have them
ask her for an autograph when they realize who she is, the horrible Hugh Hefner
scene, and the absolutely disgusting moment when Chuck leaves Linda in a room
with three men who have paid to have their way with her while he waits outside
the room; all these combined make for a completely heartbreaking film and if
these scenes were an indication of what really happened to Linda in reality
than not only does it sickens me, but I am amazed that she was able to fight
her way out of it and make something out of her life.
It is
well known that Linda was very outspoken about her ordeal in making “Deep
Throat” and was an advocate against pornography for the rest of her life, and
it is a shame that this part of her life was not explored in the film (except
for a token scene towards the end) as I think this would have made “Lovelace” a
much richer film as well as given more of an insight into just who Linda was
away from her “Lovelace” persona. There
is a sad and poignant moment when Linda expresses her frustration at the fact
that she was in the pornography industry for a grand total of seventeen days,
but it is these seventeen days that everyone bases their judgment on her life
on and as her as a person.
Overall,
I found “Lovelace” to be an incredibly sad tale but I really liked the film a
lot. It has two fantastic lead
performances from Seyfried and Sarsgaard, and another from Sharon Stone who is
just unrecognizable in the role of Linda’s mother. What is interesting is that although I really
enjoyed the film, I am still aware that it could be considered a lightweight
affair. Compared to a film like “Boogie
Nights”, which shares the similar subject of pornography, there is a world of
difference in the quality of both films.
Still in the moment, I thought that “Lovelace” was a fair achievement
and I would recommend it.
3.5 Stars.
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