Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography
Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography | |
---|---|
Directed by | Bonnie Sherr Klein |
Written by | Andrée Klein Bonnie Sherr Klein Irene Lilienheim Angelico Rose-Aimée Todd |
Produced by | Dorothy Todd Hénaut Mark L. Rosen |
Starring | Lindalee Tracey Bonnie Sherr Klein |
Cinematography | Pierre Letarte |
Edited by | Anne Henderson |
Music by | Ginette Bellavance Sylvia Moscovitz |
Production company | National Film Board of Canada Studio D |
Distributed by | National Film Board of Canada Esma Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 69 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography is a documentary about the pornography industry. It was directed by Bonnie Sherr Klein in 1981, and released in 1982.
It remains one of the landmark works from Studio D, the women's unit of the National Film Board of Canada. The film was banned in the province of Ontario on the basis of its pornographic content – a decision that was later reversed.[1][2]
Synopsis
Film-maker Bonnie Sherr Klein and stripper (later journalist) Lindalee Tracy explore the world of pornography and build a case against it.[1] They interview porn actors, sex workers and notable feminists such as Margaret Atwood and Kate Millett.[3]
Participants
- Margaret Atwood
- Kathleen Barry
- Edward Donnerstein
- Susan Griffin
- Bonnie Sherr Klein
- Kate Millett
- Robin Morgan
- Kenneth Pitchford
- Suze Randall
- Marc Stevens
- Lindalee Tracey
Critical response
At the time, the local Canadian reviewers were hostile. The Globe and Mail called the film "bourgeois feminist fascism" and the Toronto Star judged it to be "a one-sided tract of outrage that only feminists and moral majority believers will take to their bosom".[4] Writing in the Village Voice, B. Ruby Rich dismissed the film as anti-porn propaganda.[5]
Later reviewers and analysts have criticised the film for relying upon graphic sexual imagery, for focusing upon sex work rather than the porn industry and for not differentiating between straight and gay porn.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Sherr Klein, Bonnie". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- ^ Wyndham Wise, ed. (2001-09-08). "Not a Love Story". Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. University of Toronto Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0802083982.
- ^ Wise, Wyndham. "Not a Love Story: A Film about Pornography | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ Jackson, Marni (1981). "The sound of many knees jerking | Maclean's | SEPTEMBER 28, 1981". Maclean's | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ a b Sullivan, Rebecca (2014). Bonnie Sherr Klein's 'Not a love story'. Canada: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442649880.
Further reading
- Bart, Pauline B.; Freeman, Linda; Kimball, Peter (January 1985). "The different worlds of women and men: Attitudes toward pornography and responses to not a love story—A film about pornography". Women's Studies International Forum. 8 (4): 307–322. doi:10.1016/0277-5395(85)90012-3.
External links
- Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography (National Film Board of Canada)
- Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography at IMDb
- Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography at AllMovie