The Look of Love is a 2013 biopic of Paul Raymond, a self made man
dubbed ‘The King of Soho’ thanks to his enormous property empire which included
numerous clubs, bars, strip clubs and theatres. Branching out later to
pornographic magazines he became Britain’s wealthiest man in 1992
with an estimated worth of £650 million. The film takes us back to his
beginnings as a small time entertainer who hit upon the idea of a private
gentlemen’s club in which naked women would appear in live shows, something
that was previously banned in the UK. From here the movie charts his
rise, reaching the dizzy heights of drug addled fame before crashing down to
personal disaster.
Behind the camera is Michael
Winterbottom, a man capable of producing excellent work (24 Hour Party People, Trishna,
The Trip) while his frequent
collaborator Steve Coogan takes on the role of Raymond. The film features some
delicious period detail and more naked women than you could shake a stick at so
why did I find it all so dull?
Despite the lavish interior sets
and attention to detail in costume and hair (both collar and cuffs), the film
never grabbed me. I was extremely bored throughout and never really cared about
any of the characters. Paul Raymond is a smooth talking self publicist who
spends the film going from one gorgeous woman to another while his daughter
Debbie (Imogen Poots) is portrayed as a spoiled, talentless daddy’s girl.
Neither are particularly fun to be around and despite Coogan injecting a bit of
humour into Raymond, I never missed them when they weren’t on screen. Raymond’s
life was either not interesting or the film made it feel so. Considering he was
a philandering, multi millionaire who owned Soho,
I fear it’s the latter.
