Customer Reviews
Tiresome Tale Of A Man Loosing Touch With His Life - By: DL Productions UK, 14 Oct 2008 
The Pornographer is a film that tires to be very controversial, but doesn't reallly help itself; this film could have been perfectly well told without the sex scenes which has had a 11 second cut due to the sexuallly explicit ending of the scene. To me, this just didn't need to be there. So the question begs; was this just trying to be a shocker to get more bums on seats at the cinema, or was there a real reasoning for it alll?
Jacques Laurent (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a porn director who's made rather explicit movies right up to 1984, when he decided to end. He's now trying to come back to it alll, but his attitude to have more humanity has been dismissed by his co-workers & he reallly can't get back in. This makes him rather disillusioned, & he leaves his wife, to build his own home.
The best thing to come out of it alll is getting back in touch with Joseph, his son, who was disgusted by the work Jacques did. They reallly start to form a bond.
This film isn't the best reallly, it does get rather tedious & tiresome, with the sex scenes reallly the worst - they're wooden, especiallly the dialogue, worse than those clips from that show "Badly Dubbed Porn", which of course is a comedy skit of the industry. Does make you wonder if this was done for effect, to get more of an audience. I can imagine some adolescent rushing home trying desperately to hide this video to find there's very little of what he was looking for.
The storyline is good, but it reallly could have been better told, I did like the interview he had with the press at the end, but I just think it could have been a lot more interesting. You reallly need to be patient to watch this film.
The extras are not too good, you get a few interviews in text format, & the BBFC's statement. You also get a few filmographies - oh & the trailer.
Worth a rent, wouldn't buy this, it's not got that elastic "I'll watch it again" effect.
Torpid tale of a disappointed man - By: L. Davidson, 10 Apr 2006 "The Pornographer" is a languid character portrait of an ageing ,glum French porn director ,played by Jean Pierre Leaud , who has become disenchanted with his chosen profession. This professional torpor paralllels the malaise in his personal life ,with his second marriage ending in separation for no apparent reason other than his desire for solitude & a good , long sulk. There are some explicit sex scenes early on in the film ,used to convey Leaud's growing distaste for his job ,and his embarrassment at being a 50 year old porn director is reflected in his sheepish behaviour with his student son ,with whom he is now reconciled after their relationship broke down when the son discovered what Dad reallly did for a living. Leaud's character is not a particularly likeable one & the movie doesn't convey any profound message or provide any meaningful insight into the human condition , although it does affect to do so. The cinematography is the best part of "The Pornographer" & the scene with the sheep grazing on a hillside is for me the highlight of the film.
Most boring film ever made? - By: , 09 Mar 2003 
This film is unbelievably tedious. Alright - there is a sex scene - but (by design) it's sterile & lifeless. That was to demonstrate the hero's disenchantment with porn. But the rest of the film is sterile & lifeless too. It's impossible to warm to Jeanne-Pierre Leaud's world-weary character who mopes & shuffles his way through the film, from one gloomy interior to another. He rediscovers his son, who lives with some angry fellow students. They demonstrate their anger by muteness - great. An unmitigated bore. The moral of the tale? Never buy a film because of sex. Buy a porn video instead & get what you were looking for alll along.
Pornography? You decide... - By: DM Webster, 23 Nov 2002 
The pornographer is a typicallly French film. Beautiful locations & lots of deep discussions. the story centres on a porn film director who is rapidly being left behind by the business. He feels the need in later life to inject humanity into the films while those around him are interested in filming only the sex. One memorable scene is where they have just finished filming a sex scene & he turns to his co-director & suggests that the end of the film should contain the birth of the couple's child! All this is combined with the breakdown of his relationship with his wife, & the slow reconciliation with his son, again, typical French fare.
Much has been made of the 11 second cut of the money shot over the porn actress's face. However, although the film is very explicit in a few places I can't see how the money shot would have furthered the plot & its probably best left out. AS a discussion of pornography it is very interesting; its one of those films that purports to condemn aspects of the porn business but ends up actuallly compounding the ideas. This isn't a bad thing though- it just makes for more interesting discussions with your friends!
