Lovelace lacks deep discoveries

FOR a brief spell in the early 1970s, hardcore pornography almost became big box office.

Lovelace lacking deep discoveries

FOR a brief spell in the early 1970s, hardcore pornography almost became big box office.

One film crossed over from the dark side to become a pop-cultural phenomenon. Suddenly, it was the in-thing to catch a skin flick. And then, just as suddenly, it was not. The name of the film that nearly changed everything was Deep Throat. The star of the film was a young woman called Linda Lovelace. A flimsy, yet fascinating biopic, Lovelace charts both her swift rise to the absolute height of fame, and a long, slow journey to the bottom of the barrel. The title role is played by Amanda Seyfried, a surprising casting choice considering she is still remembered in most quarters as Meryl Streep’s nice young daughter in Mamma Mia. Seyfried acquits herself well, despite spending the picture outside her comfort zone. While the production as a whole turns out to be a bit of a B-grade Boogie Nights, Seyfried keeps hustling for a better outcome throughout. The main story arc follows Linda’s fraught and fractious relationship with husband Chuck Traynor (a convincingly sleazy Peter Sarsgaard). Hardly the most dutiful of spouses, Traynor actively encouraged his wife’s fleshy escapades for the sake of making a fast buck. Any time Linda tried to back out of what became an increasingly dangerous series of situations, Traynor would threaten her with violence and worse. The finer details of the late Linda Lovelace’s life story — particularly how complicit she was in pursuing her career — remain in dispute today. This film will do little to settle any of the arguments. > LOVELACE [MA15+] Rating: 3/5 Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Noth, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick “A naked ambition uncovered”