Love to Love You, Donna Summer

Donna Summer had a voice that could make any aspiring singer sit down. Her voice had a resonance that kept you listening. I found this documentary stretched to find a story outside her career that just didn't really do anything to make her legacy shine brighter but rather more of her daughter's search to understand her mother who clearly was exceptionally reserved and not fully connected to her children. Even her love affairs seemed shallow. I found this documentary more discrediting than inspiring. A lot of scenes were flat, lots of unnecessary home video that made me want to turn it off and just stream one of her live performances to remember the bottom line - great voice.

I watched this documentary for the purpose of seeing a glimpse of Donna Summer's off-stage private life. I would have been age 9 when Love to Love You, the song, was released worldwide. As a young person growing up in the 70s and 80s I did not follow the lives of entertainers and still do not as a woman in her mid-50s, so learning about Donna's life peaked my interest because I have an appreciation for her as a performance artist.

Giving the fact that I knew nothing about Ms. Summer's personal life, I can say I did learn some things. Unlike some others who have written reviews, I did not mind all the home footage. Her personal life off stage is why I was drawn to watch the documentary.

What I do have an issue with is the absolutely poor audio/sound mixing. There are segments where a caption will appear that states, "Voice of... (a person's name and their relationship to Donna)," but then nothing is heard. Early on in the film when this first happened, I turned the volume up to a really high level and barely heard the person speaking. This happens throughout the film. I subsequently stopped turning up the volume to hear because then the following audio would come in blasting. There are also instances where the narrator/daughter asks someone a question, but then their answer is not heard. Did no one view the film for possible issues before it was released on HBO Max?

With a subject as rich as Donna Summer, especially in her peak recording years, it's somewhat disappointing to find that this 2023 documentary worked most effectively as a daughter's valentine to her mother rather than a penetrating chronicle of her career. No surprise since her daughter Brooklyn Sudano co-directed this film with Roger Ross Williams, and the result is rich with archival footage and home movies. The daughter's perspective is valuable but not really that objective. What the film lacks at its core is a deeper understanding of the professional choices Summer made to shape and redefine her varied career from disco sex goddess to impressively versatile performer. That was the level of insight I was hoping for in this documentary.

My mother was a huge Donna Summer fan, she had all her albums and listened to them all the time. As a kid I was entranced by Donna's album covers-they were huge pictures of her and Mimi dressed in beautiful sequined gowns. Mimi and I are one year apart in age and I thought she was the luckiest girl alive to be able to be living such a glamorous life and wearing such beautiful dresses like a princess.

When I heard this documentary was coming out, I was cautiously optimistic simply for the fact that I am wary of the children of celebrities to tell the truth about their parent. Particularly the life they lived before they had children. For some reason, children are often seen as the ultimate biographical sources for their parents but I don't agree. Partly because as children we only ever know a small part of our parents story and only the part they tell us or the part we see with our own eyes. Donna Summer was approx.25 years old when her first child Mimi was born yet her participation was minimal-she spent the most time with her Mom as Donna was well over 30 years old when Brooklyn was born. How would she know, for sure, what her mom was or wasn't doing before she was alive? You can go by what your parent tells you, but parents don't always tell their kids the truth. This is mentioned in the doc that as children they were not allowed in their Mom's bedroom and their Mom was somewhat aloof about her private life. My personal view is that the children of celebrities more than anyone else, want to preserve a particular view or image of their parent. A good example of this is the Natalie Wood documentary that was done by her daughter.

The documentary seemed rushed maybe there were budgetary constraints that would explain why A LOT of details were omitted. Her participation in the production of HAIR which was quite controversial for the time-her life in Germany which was allegedly a difficult time for her due to bad relationships and possibly substance abuse. Her life post-disco and her brief early 80's come back with She works hard for the money and her popularity in the UK which eclipsed her popularity in the US post-disco. I could go on and on... Lastly, on the topic of Donna's views on the gay community. For the filmmakers to allege that she didn't mean what she said, and that Donna had gay friends and liked gay people is disingenuous. The internet keeps receipts in perpetuity, and it is quite clear what her views were. Her views were in keeping with the times! Who is to say that those views would not evolve over time?

This purports to be the story of Donna Summer, but it is, sadly, just a mishmash of moments, thrown together.

The voiceovers are done by Donna Summer's husband, her children and a few others. I wish it had been an actual "story," but instead it simply flows aimlessly, with no real structure to it. I kept hoping for the documentary to congeal into an objective narrative, delving into the highs and lows of her life, but it never happened.

For those who are too young to have known Donna Summer, this might be entertaining, but for others, it will be bewildering, as, at almost no point is Donna Summer ever really contributing what was actually happening, and of course, since it was made after her death, that is reasonable. However, any filmmaker knows that a story must be told, and here, it just misses the mark, no matter how well-intentioned it is. I recognize though, that her daughter felt the need to make this. I just wish it shed light on the "real" Donna Summer.

A wandering documentary, not developed enough to be seen as any kind of coherent biography that could give a thoughtful person real insight into the life of Donna Summer.