Eye For Film >> Movies >> The Lover's Guide - What Women Really Want (2001) DVD Review
The Lover's Guide - What Women Really Want
Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray
Read Angus Wolfe Murray's film review of The Lover's Guide - What Women Really WantBy using ordinary couples, rather than porn stars, the producer Robert Page took a risk that they wouldn't be able to perform under lights, with a whacking great camera staring down at them. The Making Of documentary is annoying in the sense that it doesn't dig deep enough into this baffling question. When you see the sets and how the equipment invades the privacy of the moment - well, there isn't any - it's amazing that the film was completed.
The director Simon Ludgate seems unusually sensitive to the worries of the performers and obviously wants to make a movie that has a strong educational message. Page is more hard nosed about it. He talks down any suggestion of pornography and yet you get a sneaking suspicion that he's secretly in favour, even if it's only a hint.
There are moments of eroticism here, as when the "actors" lose their inhibitions and forget where they are. The cameraman actually blushes when he talks about it.
The Making Of has been roughly edited, but nevertheless is informative and, at times, quite fascinating. It doesn't answer the $4000 question: why did they do it? One couple won a competition for a holiday in the Caribbean, only to discover that having sex in front of the camera was part of the deal.
No-one's complaining.
Reviewed on: 15 Feb 2002