363. The Look Of Love (2013)

Starring: Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Matt Lucas

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Running Time: 101 mins

The Look Of Love is a British film that tells the story of the life of Paul Raymond, an entrepreneur who became Britain’s richest man through his creation of an empire of strip clubs in Soho (which is in London by the way).

I was fascinated by this film. A truly engrossing tale to follow, a young boy from Liverpool with only a few bob in his pocket becoming one of the richest, and yet most controversial men in the world, with various other extremely interesting characters and stories surrounding the main plot line.

This film has various very different elements to it. There was the comedic side of the story, which made it a little more entertaining to watch, although for the most part, it wasn’t actually very funny at all. There was also the biographical part, which in my opinion developed and presented the story of Paul Raymond’s life fantastically, making it greatly intriguing to watch.

There was also, rather surprisingly, a very sad element to this story. Although it told of the rise of a man to the top, everything just seemed quite morose throughout. Beneath the fun, and outrageous exterior of the strip club owner Raymond, there was a much sadder, more human Raymond, on the side of his family, and the effects his massive fame had had on all of them, especially his daughter, who grew up to be a wealthy, but rather poor singer.

This side of the film deeply saddened me, especially towards the very hard-hitting climax, but despite that, it did have a good story that was very interesting, although not that funny, so that’s why I’ll give this a 6.9.