There is No Sexual Rapport (2011)

 

Director: Raphaël Siboni

Cast: Hervé Pierre-Gustave

Ephemeral Waves

 

We'll do a fake blow-job.

If pornography is a day job, then There is No Sexual Rapport definitely emphasises this, following a figure named Hervé Pierre-Gustave in his day-to-day work filming low budget adult films. Unlike other documentaries though, this project by Raphaël Siboni is entirely told by behind-the-scenes footage, from thousands of hours worth, all recorded on secret cameras. The first shot of this film even has a camera being used in a scene, shooting a threesome between a man and two women, tip down and end up staring at the tiled floor. I will also warn you the reader now that, if you are not fond of lengthy discussion of sex in words and details, or the more morally contentious aspects on the subject, it is not recommended to continue reading on as describing There is No Sexual Rapport will have to be blunt and matter-of-fact as the content.

Actresses and actors show their IDs (blurred) to introduce themselves. Then we cut to the nitty gritty, of sitting around nude and having to stage scenes, even if they involve real sex between the participants or scenes involving having to fake this. Even in the modern day, this documentary has a lot still which is surprising, mostly the lacksidasical way shooting porn really is and how it drags out. The interesting thing is that, however explicit the film is, is also shows the banality of the work to the point it completely de-eroticises everything, with even moments of the productions being openly faked, such as a male co-star merely slapping an actress' thigh and rocking the deck chair she is on, just off camera, to play act a sex, undercutting titillation for titillation's sake.

Far from a turn-off, it is humanising. These are beautiful people of all shapes and sizes willing to sit around nude, with the men calmly sitting around with erections and the women naked or in costume shop nurse outfits all day looking bored or cold. The human body is beautiful and erotic, but porn is as much a boring day job as anyone else's desk job here. Whilst there are moments around its central figure, filmmaker Hervé Pierre-Gustave, which are an issue later in the film, this instead raises the issue that pornography nowadays, with a lot shot in peoples' homes rather than with ambition of the more elaborate films of the seventies and eighties, does seem stuck in a schism. That the clichés feel even more out-of-place, and a concern ethically, as a lot of the film here is as much an encouragement to gander with interest at peoples' furniture and environments like a furniture catalogue, especially as many of the scenes are on tiled floors and in bathrooms.

It does cause you to imagine, alongside a greater verisimilitude for the regular viewer, what it would be like to be naked even in a fake leather couch, which is not as trivialising a comment to make, especially as, unless one wished to go for the cinematic idea of eroticism, celebrating the reality of desire would be equally be worthy. (Some locations, like purple walls leading to a turquoise bathroom, do have their own grounded aesthetic and aesthetically pleased me in their own low-aesthetic way.) If anything, the dangers this presents are the same tropes and clichés being played out, as even Hervé Pierre-Gustave has to figure out some narrative, as at one point, to justify a scene, forcing him into such clichés. The body with its moles, fleshiness and tattoos is more beautiful than we mostly are honest with, and not the problem. Its flaws and our fear of our mortality is likely why we have over-heightened, objectifying views of beauty, men and women alike, and likely why sex is a taboo subject for many. Porn, whilst losing its aesthetic of yore, has at least found reality with actors with piercings and tattoos whilst yet being totally fabricated, the later farcical in what we see and the concern.

The fact sex is depicted and usually padded out does not help adult films, and this also shows the absurdity of the acts and how difficult they are to actually film, which adds a perverse comedy when, under Suspiria green and red lighting for an ejaculation scene, they do not even know if any semen has been caught on film. One male actor, in the midst of a gangbang, even reveals the reality that, if you do multiple sex scenes in a day and have a regular sex life, you can be completely dry and have to rely on condensed milk to fake scenes, an emphasis in one line on dialogue on the expectations being too high in the fantasy. This is even without Hervé Pierre-Gustave fantasising about a budget of 10,000 Euros for special effects, as there is no real difference filming this or a regular film baring that a few people, especially the actresses, are brave to have real sex (in its choreographed way) on camera.

The costumes on the actresses especially, despite being aesthetically interesting even in their tackiness, show the strangeness of these filmed fantasies. I can see how cumbersome they are, like a pink and blue chequered skirt with a tie holder, a tie on a bare sternum, and with the makeup, I can see why, whilst fashion for women for me is frankly more aesthetically creative and interesting, why this is objectifying in just being stuck in awkward clothing. It is enough to imagine the pleasure of just sitting at home in pyjamas having just more meaning. That these are real women behind the costumes is a factor the film emphasises. When one actress in one line reveals herself to actually be a mother of a five year old daughter, you should not demonise her for this career choice, it is just work for her in a gangbang scene with three guys, as much as one of those men admits to having a girlfriend. It is contrived like a Hollywood production, as they even laugh about the target male audience buying this thinking its real. You still have to be directed in the best way to do a blow job. Pierre-Gustave still has to direct actors' motivation, so plot is still important even if it is ridiculous, being duped with a USB of porn videos then the promise of sex with an older woman, rather than just having a three person scene where people just fancy having sex. Soft porn, where everything is faked, is more contrived and awkward to film

This is also existential and two questions. 1) Why is sex such a taboo despite 2) why is it such a huge part of human nature universally beyond even procreation in the first place, creating this paradox? In terms of what you see, the banality of the work completely undermines the taboo, with only the costumes and the names of the performers being heightened, where I could list all the over the top names. William "Storm" - Pierre-Gustave's key main male actor and a lynchpin he has to rely on - of the many actresses named like Dolce Elecktra, Super Sex or Nymphy. One stage name which is in poor taste is Sexy Black. We could have had the one black actress have a name which was more tasteful, especially as in the middle of the countryside in the daytime, naked having sex with one leg raised by her male co-star and trying to balance against the bonnet of a Mercedes-Benz, she has a tiring day's work most do not. Little details like this do emphasis that, yes, there are many issues within pornography as a medium, but surprisingly it is not the real sex but subjects we have huge issues of, such as representation, that are the issue and can be found in other media considered more wholesome.

Amateur actors, not professionals, are also involved which raises their own questions, even if the two we see, "Pom-Pom Girl" and a larger woman named Sophie, are two young women wanting to participate in fantasies of theirs. There is an unexpected moment of sweetness, when to the concern of the two men in the scene with her, Pom-Pom Girl after a scene is in tears only for it to be tears of joy from the first explosive orgasm she ever had. With the figure of Sophie, including her and Pierre-Gustave getting very intimate afterwards by the computer he works and edits his film from, the issue of whether a line is crossed, and what is real and fake in this documentary, does come to mind. I wished there were more of the actresses talking about themselves, even in the structure of this documentary, as this is the kind of production, in content, does find into in a place where, especially after the MeToo movement, one's concerns whether this type of work is coordinated without sexual exploitation is a huge issue to consider.

This is to keep in mind when we are introduced to Puceau, a male black actor, only nineteen, who is involved as Hervé Pierre-Gustave also films gay porn. We see Pierre-Gustave tell Puceau of how, if he does the film, it will inevitably be on the net as people will copy it and be out of their hands first. It is here both Pierre-Gustave strays close to the line precariously, but also that this industry is in a weird place, as here you awkwardly have someone who is trying to film this work even though he himself is not clearly gay or bisexual, especially as for here and a scene with Puceau with three other male amateurs they have to put on heterosexual porn to get everyone in the mood. The only real exception to this at all is a BDSM scene with two men helped by the fact, with so many chains and cables to lift one of them up it looks perversely comfortable too, that they actually like each other physically. You also have the moment where Pierre-Gustave tries to big up Puceau to feel confident, falling back onto the cliché of being man enough to impress girls against weedy rich males from the schools he goes to, Pierre-Gustave himself still having to wheel-and-deal, which in itself is a problematic thing.

The film is not subjective or taking a side, which adds another layer which will discomfort some, as it does not take sides on whether this is good or not. Puceau, when informed that being a male porn star is not an easy world of money women, a dog eat dog world requiring confidence and a willingness to put up with the hard work, does feel the one scene where you do think of this, especially as Puceau looks like a deer in the headlights as Pierre-Gustave talks of the popular people being idiots whilst they are "warriors" does show they are flawed human beings. Nothing truly awful, jut obsessed with success and dated ideas of impressing women. One thing Pierre-Gustave that dangerously puts him in the fire line, with a nineteen female performer Anna Polina, is when he talks that the brain only fully develops at twenty one, whilst the military hires at nineteen because people will still take risks at that age, which in itself, depending on how it is interpreted, is a very misguided thing to have said aloud, whilst taking erotic pictures of her. Even if she visibly is rolling her eyes at her, that in itself just a bit later in the decade this film was released would get him far more scrutiny even if he did not entirely think of how creepy the words sounded.

He is a curious figure in himself - alongside stepping into non-adult cinema as a director, he has also been involved with some films like the controversial Baise-Moi (2001) - so he has had flirtations with other forms of cinema. To lighten the review a little, he is also nude all the time, or just in black boxers, which is bizarre even if the reason was to make his cast feel comfortable being naked. Emphasised by also being bald and having no body hair, it would be more elicit if he wore trousers in a scene. For the most part, he just feels a person who works, having to just scrape by with these productions, using his own bravado and confidence to even if that in itself has become, rightly, something to be wary of as too many people have exploited this gift to exploit others. The irony, as mentioned paragraphs earlier, is that these problems are not just in pornography though, so it can no longer be demonised in itself.  And whilst others may find the film dull, lacking context or with aspects where it feels uncomfortable how these films are put together, I found it compelling for these reasons as much as it's completely non-judgemental attitude, viewing this all from all the thousands of hours of footage and forcing you to have to think about how you feel. The finale shot are exhausted men contemplating in the BDSM scene room, one Hervé Pierre-Gustave, both spent and emotionally drained is a powerful shot in itself. These figures, even in this career, have to grind themselves through the metaphorical meat grinder of life to get anything done, regardless of what you think of them. It is obvious, but as an eighty minute film, few probably consider the adult industry with this light upon it.