It was only a matter of time before someone made this doc; pity it wasn’t done better. Once confined to the fringes of pop culture, pornography has exploded in the internet age, and this hour-long documentary aims to dissect the use (and misuse) of pornography and its effect on relationships. The interviewees range from porn producers and stars to academics, along with some candid interviews with porn consumers both on camera and off about how viewing porn flicks affected their sexual desires. (One man, anonymously of course, confesses to preferring rough sex after he saw it in a movie.) The best bit comes when a present-day porn star lists her price for various acts, which will have you thinking, “Really, that’s all you get for that?”
It’s pretty clear that the filmmakers do not approve of porn, and that’s fine; the problem is that they’re too passive-aggressive in their approach. They give the founder of the Burning Angel web site enough rope to hang an army (she says on camera that she has no idea what it means to objectify women), yet they never throw a single follow-up question at any of their so-called villains, just to see how deep a hole they might dig. The filmmakers clearly hold these people in contempt; why didn’t they go for the kill?
That is the least of the film’s troubles, though. The narration is flat, the production is spotty, and one bit towards the end, where they try to compare a series of “Saw”-inspired porn flicks to torture (yes, that sound you hear is the ‘torture porn’ jokes writing themselves), could have used a little more follow-through. They’re not wrong in decrying the unpleasant (read: violent) shift in tone that the industry has undergone (slapping, choking, “Say you’re a dirty whore,” etc.), but they also didn’t go out of their way to find anyone who might challenge their preconceived notions on the subject, either, nor did they discuss the possibility that the industry is a reflection of society, not the other way around.
There is a great movie to be made on this subject, because there are questions here that deserve answers. “The Price of Pleasure,” though, isn’t it. Ironic that, had they been as aggressive as the material they’re trying to eviscerate, they would have been much more successful.
