But the scenes of Traynor threatening and battering his wife feel just as phony and unconvincing as the sunnier stuff that preceded them, partly because Sarsgaard — usually a fine and subtle actor — flies so over the top in his depiction of a creepy Svengali.
But dominating proceedings is Peter Sarsgaard's Chuck Traynor, Boreman's domineering husband and the creepy svengali who guided a career in skin flicks until she eventually gave up in favour of campaigning anti-pornography work.