The Pornographer

The Pornographer (Le Pornographe, 2001) — watch online on iFILM. Bertrand Bonello's French drama stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as Jacques Laurent, a once-celebrated adult filmmaker from the 1970s who made films when pornography felt like political liberation. After years away, his producer calls. He needs the work. He goes back.

The industry has changed past recognition. Jacques cannot make peace with what it has become, and he is a stranger on his own set. Meanwhile, his estranged son — played by Jérémie Renier, edging toward political radicalism — comes back into his life, and their reconnection is as halting as everything else. Dominique Blanc appears in a key supporting role.

Bonello uses the pornographer's return to map what happens when an artist outlives the cultural moment that gave him meaning. Léaud, one of the defining faces of French cinema since the Nouvelle Vague, holds the film's centre with a tired, stubborn dignity that no amount of script could manufacture. Stream The Pornographer online on iFILM.