Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography

I saw this movie when it first came out and have been trying to see it again ever since. Very powerful and enlightening. It certainly raises the idea of whether or not pornography should be legal---in the sense of the havoc that it wreaks in the lives of the women involved in that industry. Worth seeing. Catch it if you can.

My friend's Mom took us to see this because she thought we were getting the wrong idea about porn. (I think) WE were about 14 or 15 at the time and had only see playboy and penthouse. I don't think I have seen anything this disturbing since. I definitely thought more about what's going on behind the scenes but I also developed a much broader idea about what people did, wanted to do, or are forced to do in the realm of sex. I would recommend seeing this but not before you are at least 18 or have had some experience with sex, because I can still picture a woman's breasts tied into a purple tube with the distended bulb at the end being pinched and bitten. Fun for some but a little much for the young

I saw "Not A Love Story: A Film About Pornography" at the Renoir Cinema, London two years' ago. I put the word 'sex' in inverted commas because what we see in porn films, whether hard-core or soft-core is ACTING. It is not real BUT it purports to show real, 'hot' sex. By interviewing people who actually work in the industry, in magazines and on film, and in live shows and peep-shows, both as producers and performers, this documentary shows a behind-the-scenes look at what really goes on. Watch the film to see for yourself; I'll just give one example here of an interview which stuck in my mind. The top porn actor Marc Stevens appears as himself and related the following anecdote. After a great date, he and a woman went home together the same night and had sex. Afterwards, she was angry that he didn't perform for her again immediately. To be friendly, he said if she gave him some time to recover he would try again. She was outraged - she'd seen him do it FIVE TIMES IN A ROW on-screen. Stevens said, "but it took me five DAYS to make that film!!" Unfortunately, Stevens wasn't joking when he told us that. People are fooled into thinking that the acting and gloss and smiles and enthusiasm are real. They watch the films and expect their partner to perform like that; they see the magazines and expect their partner to look like that. Conversely, OTHER people say the porn industry is all FANTASY and that NONE of it is real. Unfortunately, although the gloss isn't real, the misery behind it is. Real human beings, not fantasies, perform in those films. 10 out of 10 to Not A Love Story for reminding us of that.

Well this was my first time seeing anything like this. And it was very good. For this film shows what the porno industry is really all about. I saw it at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia as part of a 'lecture series'. After viewing it there was a time for discussion which made it even better.

I saw this movie today in my documentary class. Unfortunately, I won't be able to show this movie to others because it's impossible to find. What a shame really..

This movie was amazing. I'd never really considered pornography from a feminist point of view, so to be exposed to this movie was really shocking. Some of the scenes are hard to watch, I must admit.

I think it's great that the director is accompanied by Linda who is a stripper. It's great to see Linda's reaction at the end of the film when she has been through a "Hustler" type photo shoot.

And was I the only one completely disturbed by the lady photographer? Eek.

If you have any social conscience, you must see this movie.