The Look of Love

Plot synopsis:
The story opens in London in 1992. Paul Raymond (Steve Coogan) returns to his flat after attending the funeral of his daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots). Raymond plays a videotape of a TV programme he and Debbie took part in and reflects on their lives.
In a flashback to the late 1950s, Raymond is an impresario on the seaside variety show circuit, where he is making a name for himself by adding semi-nude women to his stage acts. After a lion attacks the show's dancers, his wife Jean (Anna Friel) joins the show. When the Daily Sketch claims that Jean performed nude, Raymond sues the newspaper unsuccessfully but appreciates the ensuing publicity, after which Raymond launches his London strip club, the Raymond Revue Bar. Its success allows him to expand his property empire and also indulge in a playboy lifestyle, which his wife tolerates.
In the early 1970s, Raymond moves into theatrical revues and casts aspiring actress Amber St. George (Tamsin Egerton) in a nude revue. Raymond moves in with her and his marriage to Jean ends. Raymond also agrees to meet a grown son, Derry, he sired out of wedlock, but after an awkward dinner together, he gives Derry no more of his time. Tony Power is approached by Paul Raymond to run a men's magazine, Men Only. Tony Power, who was only in his 20's at the time, was subsequently corrupted into a sleazy world by Paul Raymond, ending in his untimely demise. The magazine is a huge success, in part thanks to roving sex reporter Fiona Richmond, St. George's pseudonym. Raymond continues to enjoy a hedonistic, coke-fuelled lifestyle. This becomes too much for St. George and their relationship ends.
Into this mix, his daughter Debbie is introduced. Initially, Raymond tries to make her a star in his theatrical ventures, but she lacks talent and the show is an unprecedented failure for her.
Debbie marries musician Jonathan Hodge. Jean returns for the wedding and volunteers to pose nude for Raymond's magazine. In the delivery room, Debbie gives birth to a girl after sniffing a line of coke that her father provides. She dies in 1992 of a heroin overdose.
After the funeral, Raymond returns home with his granddaughter, pointing out the property he owns that will someday belong to her. An epilogue reveals that in December 1992, he was the richest man in Britain.

Tags: tragedy

Review:
Michael Winterbottom is reunited with Steve Coogan in this watchable tale of one time richest man in Britain, porn and property entrepreneur Paul Raymond.
Coogan puts in a well rounded performance playing Raymond (it would have been easy to make the character either too likable, too bolshy or too obnoxious, credit to Coogan for getting the balance just right) from his early days when he first opened a members only strip club in SoHo to his later years after the death of his daughter Debbie - Imogen Poots.
A cautious tale of morality the film spans several decades following the life of Porn Baron Paul Raymond, who went on to own Men Only and a string of other magazines, shops and clubs in Soho.
I actually met him and his daughter once, though I don't think I knew who they were at the time.Raymond (Played with appropriate gusto and restrained measure by Steve Coogan, at his best) and his daughter (Imogen Poots, outstanding) were ultimately damaging for each other as shown her.
It's story of a grieving father who failed to heed the warning signs he was given and steer his daughter back on the right path, and ultimately paid the price.James Lance plays Raymond's long time lawyer friend in a rather two dimensional role and does well to put meat on the bone and other appearances from a number of comic and acting talents from the UK fill out every role possible.Production design here is first rate, with the Soho of the 1970s and 1980s which (the latter) I remember all too well recreated superbly and the lavish flat of Raymonds can well be believed, designed as he loves to tell all who will listen by Ringo Star.Like many who rise to the top, Raymond was ultimately a tortured soul, who found it impossible to stay in one relationship and tragically lost the people he loved the most.
It's not quite Partridge, but we've seen it before in 24 Hour Party People and in things like Tristram Shandy and The Trip, where Coogan plays an unflattering version of himself - sort of narcissistic, insecure, a bit sarcastic and witty, not without flair.I didn't mind this in the Tony Wilson biopic, largely because that was played for laughs and also looked outwards to the whole Manchester music scene, but I did mind it here.
I decided to watch it because the title reminded me of ABC's The Look of Love song which played at the credits of Hamlet 2 which, funny enough, starred Steve Coogan (the song is a favorite of mine).You might be wondering why I'm rating this a 10 and it's because I read Felix Dennis's "How to Get Rich," which is his honest telling/recollection of his own story about becoming filthy, filthy rich and living the kind of lifestyle that he did (Dennis is the founder of Maxim Magazine) and this movie captures a certain essence in which I felt was present in Dennis's book (coincidentally, Paul Raymond was the founder of "Men Only" which I had no idea about prior to watching this film).
But he had a troubled relationship with the women of his life, his wife, his lover and his daughter.Steve Coogan plays Raymond, a Liverpoolian lad who starred out as entertainer but quickly moved to working behind the scenes and starring to run exclusive men's clubs with his wife Jean (Anna Friel).
During his rise he forms a relationship with Amber (Tamsin Egerton) who becomes Fiona Richmond, a famous British sex symbol, leading to him having the largest divorce settlement in British legal history and stay close with his daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots) who he sees has his heir apparent but has a massive drug addiction.As the subject for a bio-pic Paul Raymond for both his business achievements and his personal life: but The Look of Love stretches itself too thin, not knowing where to focus and therefore making for a shallow experience.
It felt like the film was gutted in the editing room with how it only briefly on many different aspects such as the controversies, his rise in business and a sex scandal just to name a few.The Look of Love was written by Matt Greenhalgh who has written two excellent bio-pics, Control and Nowhere Boy. The strength of those films are they were both were very focused on a specific area of their character's lives, John Lennon and his relationship with his mother and Ian Curtis' epilepsy and depression.
Egerton, Poots , Friel and Chris Addison too were solid in their roles, but Davad Williams' role was extremely minor that it felt pointless to the point where his role seemed like it was mostly cut and people like Stephen Fry and Dara O Briain were camoes.Director Michael Winterbottom does inject a lot of period detail to the film and there are some stylist moments when he does montages.
If you don't mind too much, you will get an entertaining enough movie to pass the time.If the real "Paul Raymond" was half as charming as Steve Coogan in this, than you understand his charm.
Michael Winterbottom understands how to get the best from Steve Coogan.This, his fourth feature film working with Coogan, has him utilising both the well cultured comedic timing of Coogan and his remarkable ability to evoke sympathy from characters that would otherwise be seen as deplorable.Coogan this time brings his chameleonship to the role of Paul Raymond, a pioneer in the British adult magazine industry.A hedonist by nature, Raymond seemingly has everything you would expect from leading such a lifestyle; the admiration of young women, expensive cars, an excessive wealth, which has bought him half the properties in Soho and all the drugs that a party hard club owner in the 70s could desire.Winterbottom seems obsessed with the 70s, having previously made 24 Hour Party People (also starring Coogan) a film set in the tail end of the decade charting the rising profile of the Manchester music scene....
Cliché of a biopic, unfocused, the film doesn't know if its about Raymond's life or his empire or his relationship with his daughter, it's trying really quickly to cover far too many events in 100 minutesIt's fast for no reason, badly filmed, badly edited, not engaging, you don't feel much when his daughter dies, which should be tragic, There's a few good ideas of film making, like the photo shoot that looks like Men Only ages with kitschy artwork alas it's really poorly executedSteve Coogan is insufferable in this film, he's not acting anything else than him, you just ve the feeling of watching a film about him in costume period, shame for the female actress who are all excellent There's too many dialogues, some of them are good but some are just unnecessary , it just makes the film suffocating and leaves very little space for emotionsYou just have the feeling the film was wrapped up in two days, I'm usually a big fan of Winterbottom but I must say I'm clearly unimpressed with this It's trying hard to be original but it's just another biopic with fast editing and a few breaking walls, With material like Paul Raymond's fascinating life it's a shame to end up with such a terribly flawed filmIt's mildly entertaining but mostly very boring.
Biopic of a Fundamentally Empty Man. Recounting the life of porn king and entrepreneur Paul Raymond, THE LOOK OF LOVE tells the story of a self-made man, born Geoffrey Quinn, who rose to become Britain's richest man.
This film is about a controversial adult entertainment tycoon who made a fortune in the West End of London decades ago."The Look of Love" is a biopic about an interesting character, it could have had so much potential to be portraying morally questionable individuals in glamorous and exotic settings.
The film concentrates on Paul Raymond' love life and his adult magazine, with little character and plot development.
And I think the film is such a misnomer, Paul Raymond's on screen character is about every bit love does not look like..
The Look of Love from Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom was definitely something to look forward to--between the two of them they've cooked up 24 Hour Party People, Tristam Shandy, and The Trip--all three of which are top notch films in many ways.
There's not much to engage you or pull you into the story this time around and Coogan's character who's supposed to be the central figure of this "character study" never begins to come across as a vivid, fully fleshed out person the way he does in the other films...i kept waiting for the details of his life to get filled in but the film mostly glosses over the details that would've made his character someone to root for (or against) Instead what we get is a barely there stick figure, you can sympathize with some of the things his character has to goes through towards the end, but you can never fully feel for his character.Coogan plays somewhat of a British Larry Flynt here...someone who becomes a wildly successful entrepreneur and real estate tycoon on the strength of a pornographic empire and his successful attempts to have frequent nudity and stripping in proper polite public society.
Its said at the end of the movie that his character was the richest man in Britian in the mid 2000's,--tho the film itself is set during the late 70's/early 80's (Relying on the soundtrack to tell you when you are is what i did, as Donnovan's "Sunshine Superman" pops up towards the beginning, and Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" pops up in the last half hour, i got that we were moving from the 70's thru the 80's here but its honestly hard to tell because there are so many different period signifyers all kind of just thrown on screen.)The film's storyline involves Coogan's ever evolving relationship with his daughter whom he refuses to leave when he walks out on his wife and son, apparently he shares a significant bond with her, we're told that she's a lot like him character wise and you can see why that is as the story moves on.
The bulk of the story is essentially how the business he very successfully built for himself ends up destroying his own daughter little by little (you know it isn't very long before she ends up over-indulging in drugs and the lifestyle in general and getting in way over her head, etc, etc) Meanwhile Coogan keeps whatever difficult emotions he's feeling bottled up while witnessing the slow decline of his daughter, preferring to over-indulge in the nightlife himself.This could have all been a nicely effecting story about a guy who never took the time to share or process his feelings towards the other people in his life suddenly having to grapple with the choices he had made having such a significant effect on the one true loved on in his life.
'The Look of Love' tells the story of the first 'porn baron' of London, Paul Raymond - arguable the richest man in England to ever make his money in such an industry.The first thing you need to know is that the casting of Steve Coogan is a sheer masterpiece.
Both vices are frequently portrayed from the opening act to the end.Ultimately, the film charts the highs and the lows of Paul Raymond's career, although, if you investigate the man himself, you may feel that Coogan's portrayal of him and his industry is quite kindly.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningIn their latest collaboration, Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan explore the world of Paul Raymond, the visionary porn producer who was one of the pioneering forces that transformed London's Soho in to an erotic industry, bringing live shows to the forefront and launching the iconic Men's Only magazine, which eventually saw him become the richest man in Britain.
But it also fueled his self destructive edge, finishing his marriage to Jean (Anna Friel), the mother of his children, and leaving her for forthright starlet Fiona (Tamsin Egerton), while leading his daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots) into a world of drug fueled self destruction.Coogan and Winterbottom are the forces behind a series of works that are anti mainstream but still have the star power to appeal to a fairly wide audience, if not commercially, then critically.
Coogan fits the lead role perfectly, embodying his real life character with the larger than real life personality and character traits he had, while a naturally attractive female supporting cast adorn other key roles.Lacking the dynamism and effortless energy of 24 Hour Party People, but at least not full of the pretentious self indulgence of A Cock and Bull Story, The Look of Love doesn't quite manage to set the screen alight, but still leaves your senses and emotions on a string.
It is not easy to illustrate the shocking things the man did without sacrificing that sense of human frailty which helps the audience relate to the character.It is with self-effacing wit and charm that he publishes porn, has dalliances with several strange women at a time and bonds with his daughter Debbie by sharing the same cocaine - a disgusting drug with a disgusting method of use that two generations of party people have deluded each other and themselves about..
After collaborating on 24 Hour Party People (2002) and A Cock and Bull Story (2005), two equally unconventional and uncompromising approaches to the biopic and novel adaptation respectively, prolific writer/director Michael Winterbottom and star Steve Coogan coupled up once again to tell the story of Paul Raymond, the property and smut tycoon once honoured with the title of richest man in the UK.
After the energetic, entertaining rise, the film plummets into a non-stop barrage of cocaine, orgies and excess for its second act.Raymond's wife Jean (Anna Friel) seems happy with her comfortable life of luxury and even lets her husband have sex with other women, but she is soon abandoned after the beautiful starlet of his new show, Fiona (Tamsin Egerton), catches his eye.
Except that is, for his daughter Debbie (the lovely Imogen Poots), an entitled yet troubled girl who shares her father's fondness for excess, and who seems to be the only person Raymond actually cares about.Just what attracted Winterbottom and Coogan to Paul Raymond is a mystery.
The turns by Imogen Poots as Raymond's daughter Debbie and Chris Addison as Men Only boss Tony Power stand out, and it is never difficult to watch Anna Friel, here playing Raymond's wife Jean.
Director Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan collaborated a decade ago on 24 Hour Party People – a look at Manchester's innovative music scene from the mid-1970s onward.
So hopes were high as they united once more for this biopic about Britain's erstwhile soft-pornographer-in-chief, and ultimately the country's richest man, Paul Raymond.Sadly, they cannot re-create the magic in this hotch-potch of a film which seems to lack any kind of compass and is unsure of the statement it wishes to make.There is a total lack of irony as we follow Raymond's hedonistic and highly lucrative lifestyle, giving people what many of them clearly want and for which they are happy to pay large amounts of money.Steve Coogan as Paul Raymond frequently drifts far too close to his Alan Partridge persona throughout the film, and comparisons are almost invited as he shows Raymond impersonating Sean Connery to his friends.There are under-weighted cameos from the likes of Stephen Fry and Matt Lucas; David Walliams plays a lecherous vicar, apparently a good friend of Raymond, but we are given no idea as to how he arrived on the scene and without backstory he comes across as a superficial irrelevance.The soundtrack is impressive, especially the Bacharach and David numbers, and the film does succeed in evoking a sense of period.
Paul Raymond, the Grand Master of 70s pornography and the self proclaimed King of Soho, is the central character in this biopic by Michael Winterbottom, based on Paul Willets book, Men Only - and yet Winterbottom's film is as much about the people around Paul Raymond as it is about the man himself.The film begins with Paul Raymond - played here by a superb Steve Coogan - mourning the evident loss of his daughter Debbie, reflecting on his life and relationship with her via an old video recording.
This film is not just about Paul Raymond's life and career but also about his relationship with his daughter and how she was ultimately sacrificed to the lifestyle he chose.
Steve Coogan plays Paul Raymond in a similar bumbling way but it doesn't seem as true to character here.
A good idea on paper,as indeed it started out,based on Paul Willets biography Members Only.But the process of distilling a life into 400 pages and then again into a film leads to a feeling that The Look of Love is merely a series of anecdotes strung together.The story is told mainly in flashback,Raymond watching a documentary about himself and his daughter Debbie,for whom at the outset of the film we are informed things haven't panned out too well.
This is the fourth film Winterbottom has made with Steve Coogan, after Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, The Trip and 24 Hour Party People.
With a cast reading like a UK comedy rich list, led by 'the man who thinks he's it', Steve Coogan, a film about one of Britain's most famed smut peddlers has the potential to go any number of ways.Charting his rise from lowly entertainer to Britain's richest man, the focus of much of the plot is on his relationships with the most important women in his life: his wife, Jean Raymond (Anna Friel), his lover Fiona Richmond (Tamsin Egerton) and, most importantly, his daughter, Debbie (Imogen Poots).