This review courtesy of my buddy Ric Sandlas of http://www.DearFilm.net
When your opening dips your toe in the controversy of the films fame for just a moment before dialing us back to the beginning and Linda’s high school years, I find the era is replete with all the accessories that made the 70’s such a crazy loose time. Here we meet Linda, (portrayed with fresh faced beauty by Amanda Seyfried) the titular queen of the dawning of the porn age as she meets her twisted porn Svengali Chuck Traynor, who is handled deftly by Peter Sarsgaard.
As he lures her into an all-encompassing relationship and then marriage, It is easy to find his control of this pliant woman to be all that the ‘based on a true story’ drama is meant to be. What is cool about this story unfolding, is that the time piece ambiance and the authenticity never wavers and the bit players all do their part. Even the coverage of the filming of a porn film is perfectly pitched cheese.
But there comes a time when the film is finally released and it rocks the country and fame builds to a crescendo yet all the while the invariable slide starts to occur in Linda’s life. What is surprising is that it isn’t catastrophic and one-dimensional like the old movie of the week would do with this sort of drama. It’s more subtle and complex and really makes it feel like a biopic! Its nice to know as the performance turns serious, that viewers will have sat down to something with depth.
As it gets difficult, it embraces all the unfiltered human suffering and misplaced loyalty that makes up exploitation and not only how it affects the victim but everyone involved. When Linda gets away and she resurfaces with a book about her experiences – as she did in real life – part of me salutes her for her fortitude and her desire to use her painful past as a catharsis for not only herself but her parents and any woman that is faced with the same scary situation.
This is a powerful examination of the era, the phenomenon and the dark issues driving those involved. The scenes in the film with her father John, and mother Dorothy (superbly handled by Robert Patrick and Sharon Stone,) are riveting in the range of emotions and remind me that ripples of our actions spread far and wide and so it was for the infamous “Lovelace.”
Watch The Official Trailer:
Andy Bellin wrote the screenplay for this biopic-type film directed by both Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman which relates the life of Linda Lovelace, known as the queen of adult porn for her controversial role in the 1972 film DEEP THROAT and the writer of the confessional book ORDEAL which gave the public the ‘real story’ behind the girl who was Lovelace before she died in 2002 – the girl who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life. The film is basically divided into two parts – the fantastical story of a freckled face ‘innocent’ girl of strict upbringing who rises to fame by being the first porn star to perform fellatio on the screen and gained fame and stardom, and the second part of how this naïve girl was the victim of the abusive husband and porn industry until she gained the courage to marry and have a family and step out of the spotlight of her fame in Deep Throat.
And the manner in which the two views on the same girl are interconnected in the film is the strong point of the movie: the technique of show ‘reality’ while simultaneously depicting ‘fiction’ works well. The cast is strong: Amanda Seyfried does a star turn as Linda Lovelace (aka Linda Susan Boreman aka Mrs. Larry Marchiano) though much of Lovelace’s life is omitted (her liver transplant, her messy divorces, her other films, etc); Peter Sarsgaard is excellent as the smarmy drug-addled Chuck Traynor, the man who convinced Lovelace to enter porn; Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick as her rigid parents; Juno Temple in the thankless role as Lovelace’s only friend Patsy; and the porn guys – Chris Noth, Bobby Cannavale, Hank Azaria, Adam Brody as the well-endowed Harry Reems (though that of course is never filmed), Chloë Sevigny as a Feminist Journalist, James Franco as Hugh Hefner, fellow porn star Dolly as portrayed well by Debi Mazar, Wes Bentley, Eric Roberts, and Ron Pritchard as Sammy Davis Jr.! There are real taped interviews and comments by Johnny Carson, Bob Hope and Walter Cronkite which enhance the credibility.
The film closes with an interview after Lovelace has revealed her past in her best selling book ORDEAL – and at that point the film slides down the hill of Hallmark type feel good. An entertaining film about a name from the 20th century that deserves visiting despite the fact that it simply goes on too long.