Deep Throat

As a film, it has no quality whatsoever. However, it had such a strong impact at the time that we are still here talking about it.

First of all, I need to make a note about my review: I am not a consumer of pornographic material and I even believe that the porn industry should be regulated more severely, to protect those involved and to control what can be displayed and the means in which this can be done. Call me a moralist if you prefer. What led me to see this film was the huge impact it had at the time it was made. I wanted to see if it really justified the “hype” it created and the cultural importance that many recognize in it, and I must conclude that, if the cultural and social importance is undeniable (after all, it was the first pornographic film to conquer the space of normal cinemas and to have the right to be in newspapers and film reviews), the quality of the production itself leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm not going to dwell on considerations about the plot, anyone who really wants to know what it's about should simply lose their shyness and watch the film, whether in the original version or in the censored version. What really deserves to be highlighted is the simple fact that the film has a plot, which is unprecedented. Until then, porn films were rare and resembled the homemade videos of celebrities that sometimes leak to the press and cause headaches for the people involved. After “Deep Throat” an industry was born and other productions emerged with a plot, even though in the overwhelming majority of cases (including this very film!) the plot is nothing more than an excuse for explicit sex scenes.

Technically, nothing caught my attention. There is no investment in sets or quality production. The film could have been filmed in any of those actors' homes, and it looks extremely cheap. And there is no care with the cinematography: the camera tries to position itself wherever it has space, without worrying about the framing, color, light or sharpness of the image. The sex scenes are basically what you imagine. Obviously, they are heavily edited and the successive and uncomfortable cuts seemed excessive to me, the result of very amateur work in post-production.

The film marks the high point of the career of Linda Lovelace, the first porn superstar and one of the most defining figures of the industry's golden age. Her qualities as an actress are very poor, but the film, by its nature, does not require her to act. The entire film is, however, a farce if we give credit to Lovelace's own words, years later, when she denounced the abuse she allegedly suffered in the production, where she was forced and practically raped on camera. Personally, I give credit to what the former porn star said, especially if we consider the prevailing mentality concerning women and the absence of any legal or moral regulation on this material. Furthermore, she is the only actress who stands out here.

The film was a tremendous success and the production raised a fortune. There are those who even say that the mob took advantage of the opportunity in the way that best suited it. For posterity, however, the strong social impact that the film had remained, which gave it an importance that, otherwise, it would never have had the right to aspire to.