The Look of Love
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
Written by Matt Greenhalgh
with Steve Coogan, Imogen Poots, Anna Friel
2013
The creative relationship between Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom continues with a biopic of Paul Raymond: owner of much of Soho, for a time the richest man in Britain, and throughout his career a scourge of the obscenity laws as a publisher of adult magazines and producer of risqué theatre. Starting in the late 50s and following Raymond’s career and family life into the early 90s, The Look of Love is entertaining, but lightweight and only cheaply fulfilling. It has a great cast and the same breezy postmodernism that made 24 Hour Party People so much fun, but that over-obvious comparison should indicate that The Look of Love fails to really distinguish itself.
In 24 Hour Party People, Tony Wilson describes himself as a minor character in his own story, an idea which describes that film’s arch stagger through the years, alighting on the various key moments that went towards building up the mythical version of the alternative music scene in Manchester. Maybe if, instead of Joy Division, you’re an aficionado of tacky erotic theatre in postwar London you’d get something of the same effect with The Look of Love. But I think it’s clear that what Winterbottom has tried to do here is actually delve into the main character, and yet hasn’t managed to reveal a great deal (both he and Coogan are on record saying Raymond was actually a little dull).
It’s a shame, because the angle gone for mainly concerns his relationship with women, and there’s a lot of potential there when the subject is a pornographer and serial philanderer who dotes on his only daughter. Early scenes depict him as a habitual womaniser taking full advantage of the ambitious young women surrounding him, with the resigned consent of his first wife, Jean (AnnaFriel). This happens with a sort of easygoing opportunism rather than any real sleaze, but it joins his business ventures in showing an attitude where women are there primarily for enjoyment. As his daughter, Debbie (Imogen Poots), grows up and wants to pursue a career in the arts like her dad, it seems for a while the main thrust of the film will be his attempt to preserve the dignity of the one woman with whom he cannot dictate the terms of their relationship. Frustratingly, it never quite takes off, as Winterbottom cannot devote enough time to it alongside the charting of Raymond’s career, and the admittedly enjoyable period details of old-school Soho, back when it was genuinely grubby. There are many ways in which The Look of Love works well, but it hangs limply between the two disparate aims of paternal introspection, and providing a fun history of adorable pre-internet obscenity laws.
Tom
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