A Labor of Love

In 1975, Chicago filmmakers Flaxman and Goldman got carte blanche to film the shooting of a local film called THE LAST AFFAIR. Neither AFFAIR's director (who envisioned the film as a combination of Fellini and Bergman) nor its cast (which included then-unknowns Betty Thomas and Ron Dean) had ever worked in the industry before. Made in the classic cinema-verité style of Drew and Leacock, A LABOR OF LOVE is a revealing and often hilarious exposé of the hidden side of adult film: onscreen partners despise each other offscreen, male performers can't get wood, an actress has her period, Ivory Liquid is substituted for semen, and the director declares, I really dislike every minute of this! (Gene Siskel Film Center)