Love might just be the last thing expected in a portrait of English nightclub owner, publisher and real estate developer Paul Raymond, the so-called King of Soho; yet affection lurks within the standard examination of his considerable world of sleaze. As the affable, assured entrepreneur assembled his empire of adult-oriented entertainment from the 1950s to the 1990s, Michael Winterbottom’s (Trishna) film posits that fondness drove his actions: not just for his controversial work, but for the women in his orbit.
Off-screen, warmth also surges, transforming the man who rode a wave of pornography to become one of Britain’s richest, into an unlikely target for sympathy. Again chronicling the genesis of one of the nation’s influential figures, Control and Nowhere Boy writer Matt Greenhalgh embraces the elasticity of time in his retelling of Raymond’s story, his controversial professional dealings softened by the sprawling narrative focus on his vulnerable personal relationships.
Of course, ladies’ man Raymond (Steve Coogan, Despicable Me 2) left a slew of broken bonds in his wake: his supportive wife Jean (Anna Friel, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), star dancer Amber turned steamy journalist Fiona Richmond (Tamsin Egerton, Chalet Girl), and ignored son Howard (Matthew Beard, One Day) among them. Only his daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots, Performance) earned his enduring and unconditional devotion, and it is from their connection that The Look of Love derives its title, an amassing of emotion that cannot be disguised.
While there’s little in Winterbottom’s feature that breaks the well-trod boundaries of the biopic genre, the director doesn’t shy away from his subject’s energy, or the salaciousness of Raymond’s line of work. Using flashbacks to chart the rise and fall of his fame, the film revels in the abundant flesh and evident shallowness that underscored his reign as the purveyor of male sexual fantasies, correspondingly pitching its perspective on his character at the superficial level. Accordingly, Hubert Taczanowski’s (Beat the World) cinematography combines glam with grit, and Antony Genn and Martin Slattery’s (TV movie Treasure Island) score dictates an upbeat atmosphere. Even as the feature wades into darker territory, almost incongruously it retains a sense of buoyancy.
That The Look of Love reportedly stems from the avid support of star Coogan is far from surprising, in a role that not only reunites him with his frequent collaborator after 24 Hour Party People, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and The Trip, but provides a showcase for the varying shades of his on-screen persona. However, as well-suited as he proves in the part, it is the objects of his protagonist’s alternating adoration that steal the show, with Friel resilient, Egerton enterprising and Poots heartbreaking as the casualties of Raymond’s lifestyle.
Rating: 2 ½ stars out of 5
The Look of Love
Director: Michael Winterbottom
UK, 2013, 101 mins
Release date: 27 June
Distributor: Madman
Rated: MA
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