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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 4 March 2013
This article is a review of THE LOOK OF LOVE.
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“My name is Paul Raymond. Welcome to my world of erotica.”
The team-up of director Michael Winterbottom and actor Steve Coogan looks to be a winning cinematic combo:
- 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE,
- A COCK AND BULL STORY, and now
- THE LOOK OF LOVE.
(They also collaborated on TV show THE TRIP.) Winterbottom certainly works to Coogan’s non-Alan Partridge strengths as a leading man. The latter’s comedy prowess can also be seen in the massively under-rated HAMLET 2. But here, there is a surprising pathos to the comedian’s performance.
We are in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE territory, not so much breaking the fourth wall, rather a similar witty raconteur in virtually every scene, guiding us through an entertainment world. However, the humour and lightness of touch is tempered with tragedy, and the story of a human being who leaves a trail of emotional breakage in his wake.
The team-up of director Michael Winterbottom and actor Steve Coogan looks to be a winning cinematic combo:
- 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE,
- A COCK AND BULL STORY, and now
- THE LOOK OF LOVE.
(They also collaborated on TV show THE TRIP.) Winterbottom certainly works to Coogan’s non-Alan Partridge strengths as a leading man. The latter’s comedy prowess can also be seen in the massively under-rated HAMLET 2. But here, there is a surprising pathos to the comedian’s performance.
We are in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE territory, not so much breaking the fourth wall, rather a similar witty raconteur in virtually every scene, guiding us through an entertainment world. However, the humour and lightness of touch is tempered with tragedy, and the story of a human being who leaves a trail of emotional breakage in his wake.
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The framing device is Coogan’s Paul Raymond watching a television show about himself. We dip in and out of his devastated visage. This look-back is in the aftermath of the death of his beloved daughter, Debbie (Imogen Poots). It’s not a whole-life biopic, rather a tour of an impresario at the peak of his success - the month after her passing, Raymond was named the richest man in England. At 99 minutes, so much is packed in. Not bad since the opening of the Revue Bar was in 1958, and THE LOVE OF LOVE finishes in 1992. And it doesn’t feel like one of those whistle-stop flicks.
The focus is three women in his life: Wife Jean (Anna Friel), lover Fiona (Tamsin Egerton), and daughter. All compete with the nude productions he puts on at the Revue. There are definite echoes of THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT – showman, entrepreneur, pornographer. Also, thankfully, without the dubious celebration of liberty that sits uneasily in Milos Forman’s pic. Raymond’s father left home when he was a baby, and he grew up in a house of women. Paul was also born Jeffrey Quin, and came to London from Liverpool with £5. That’s all the glimpse we really get as to his formative years. It doesn’t explain his propensity for the seeming lack of loyalty to his loved ones, bar his partner in crime Debbie. Raymond’s coldness is the bitter, sharp redress to the joviality. THE LOOK OF LOVE is not preachy in its analysis of the consequences of hedonism.
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