Inside Deep Throat (2005) 10/10
The pornographic film Deep Throat, released in June of 1972, becomes a benchmark for political and social change. Documentary.
People like to make fun of the seventies; the wildness, the fashion, the naïve hope that the world could be changed, the primitive lack of technology. Here was a time when pornographic filmmakers considered their work art, and believed they were heading for a day when explicit sex would be a normal part of mainstream movies; when Hollywood and porn would merge into a single industry. Here was a time when porn stars had their original breasts and faces, how innocent is that?
Deep Throat changed the ability of Americans to talk about sex. Then it changed it again. And again. Porn became the focus of what we now call Religious Right activism, just as gay marriage is today. Lawsuits were numerous. The most prominent effort to shut down Deep Throat as obscene ended up as a battle on the nature of female orgasm, with the defense contending the film had educational value, as it depicted a woman seeking the source of her problem achieving orgasm. The prosecution, however, used the Freudian canard that clitoral orgasm is unhealthy, and since this was the kind of orgasm the film encouraged, it could demoralize women who would never learn the true pleasure of vaginal climax. I know, it sounds silly, doesn’t it?
The film then became the focus of anti-porn feminists, who declared it abusive to women. This argument gained power a decade later when Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace (who died in 2002 in a car crash) revealed that she was forced into performing in the film by her then-husband (filmmakers were never implicated, and contend she appeared perfectly happy during filming; Lovelace argued she was coerced and controlled at all times, and that the film shows her being raped). In a bizarre coda, we learn that Lovelace’s daughter was asked to star in “Deep Throat 7” (she turned it down).
This is definite NC-17 material. The actual “deep throat” sequence itself is shown (which is a relief, I think; it would be maddening to talk and talk and talk about a moment that was never shown for propriety’s sake).
The documentary does a great job of bringing a wide range of different concepts together; the porn industry, the amateur filmmakers, the mob involvement, public and political reaction, the court cases, the “where are they now” aspect, and more. It ties it into the current political climate quite intelligently, making the movie so very pertinent today.
