Lovelace (4 Stars)

True Stories #36

Name: Linda Lovelace

Lived: 10 January 1949 – 22 April 2002

Film dates: 1970 to 1980

Film made in 2013

Ten years ago the actress Julie K. Smith was active on Facebook. I often spoke with her. She read my blog, and she commented on my reviews of her films. She recommended the film "Lovelace" to me. She said that it had Oscar written all over it. I'd missed the film in the cinema, but I bought it on DVD as soon as possible, based on Julie's recommendation. No, it didn't win any Academy Awards, and it wasn't even nominated. To be honest, I didn't expect it to win any awards. It's not the sort of film that finds recognition.

The film is based on Linda's autobiography, written in 1980, but many of the people mentioned in the book claims that she's lying. Her publisher asked her to take a lie detector test. She passed, but there are ways of beating the machine. When I was at university one of my professors, an ardent opponent of lie detectors, gave his class instructions on how to beat the machine. I still remember everything, just in case I ever have to take a test.

The film is shown in two halves. In the first half we see Linda as the world saw her. It was a glamorous  life, and she was envied by all. In the second half her story begins again, and we're shown what really happened behind closed doors.

Linda Boreman was born in New York in 1949. After an unwanted pregnancy her family moved to Florida to get her away from temptation. She married a man called Chuck Traynor. In his own words, he owned a restaurant which sold good food and had beautiful waitresses. That was a euphemism for a titty bar. Linda didn't approve, so she stayed away from the restaurant and never asked Chuck about it.

Chuck was always in debt. He had connections in the pornography industry, so he got her a role in a film. He didn't even tell her what she was auditioning for. She thought it was a serious film, but it was actually the infamous movie "Deep Throat". This made her famous, bringing her together with film stars and other celebrities. She even became friends with Hugh Hefner, who's played by James Franco in this film.

That's a handsome young Hef. Did he really look so good?

In the second half of the film we see what the first half omitted. Linda was never happy with her husband. Chuck raped her on her wedding night. Is that at all possible? Evidently, yes. He had sex with her in a way that hurt her, and he didn't listen when she repeatedly told him to stop. Adding insult to injury, the next morning he was enthusiastic about how good it was. In the following months and years he often beat her.

The casting for "Deep Throat" was more than just reading lines. Chuck told her she had to sleep with four men from the film studio. When she refused, he held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she didn't go through with it.

Linda made the film, doing everything that was expected of her. When it was finished, she was credited as Linda Lovelace. She never picked the name for herself. It was given to her by the film producers, and they didn't even consult her.

Linda was ripped off. The film made over $30 million at the box office, and another $500 million in video sales. She was paid $1250, and she didn't even receive that, because Chuck took it to pay off his debts. She was asked to film a sequel, but she refused. "Deep Throat" was the beginning and end of her film career.

If you check IMDB, you'll see that she made another two films, "Deep Throat 2" and "Linda Lovelace for President". That's where different stories are told. Linda claims that these two films were patched together from unused footage for "Deep Throat". The film producers contradict this. 40 years later it's impossible to be certain, but my gut feeling tells me to believe Linda's words.

While watching the first half of the film I thought to myself that I ought to watch "Deep Throat". It's a gap in the education of a serious film fan. After watching the second half I said No on principle. I don't want to watch any film that a woman is forced into against her will.

Today Linda Lovelace is still considered to be the most famous porn star of all time. That's remarkable, considering she was only a porn star for 17 days.

Success Rate:  - 4.4

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