“Lovelace” debuted at the 29th annual Sundance Film Festival and stars Amanda Seyfried as porn star Linda Lovelace (nee Linda Susan Boreman) in this intense, moving and entertaining biopic. Peter Sarsgaard plays her Svengali husband Chuck Traynor and the film’s directors areRob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman with a screenplay written by Andy Bellin.
The all star cast includes Adam Brody,James Franco, Hank Azaria, Bobby Cannavale, Chris Noth, Eric Roberts,Chloë Sevigny, Wes Bentley and an unrecognizable Sharon Stone who plays Linda’s cold and domineering mother, Dorothy Boreman.
Synopsis: In 1972, before the Internet and mainstream porn, “Deep Throat” was a phenomenon. It was the first feature length porn film that included a story, comedy, and a new fresh faced “girl next door” star, Linda Lovelace. “Deep Throat” was a mainstream hit that even garnered a review in The New York Times.
Background: Lovelace was born in the Bronx, New York City. She came from a strict and oppressive religious background with a strict mother and often absent cop father (Robert Patrick). Lovelace broke out and found freedom when she met, fell in love, and married the charismatic Chuck Traynor. What she didn’t know was that he was a smarmy hustler who would use and abuse her by inflicting humiliation, degradation and forcing her into the porn industry and prostitution at gunpoint.
He made her a star in that world of porn by selling her based on her innocent looks and unusual capacity for “deep throat” fellatio. According to reports, Lovelace made 21 adult films and became an enthusiastic spokesperson for sexual freedom and uninhibited hedonism.
Six years later, however, she joined the feminist anti-pornography movement that was joined and supported by Gloria Steinem. Lovelace publically described herself as the survivor of a dark tale of constant physical and mental abuse and testified that she’d been forced at gunpoint, by Trayner, to humiliate herself for years. She passed lie detector tests and showed all the signs of a traumatized person with PTSD. Sadly, she died young at age 53 in 2002 from complications from injuries sustained in a car accident.
“Lovelace” opens in New York City on August 9, 2013. Biopic drama. Rated R. 92 minutes.
written for the Examiner
