Why does someone perform sex in public? And for money? And is there
love involved? These are basically the main questions this movie tries
to answer, by (in the first two thirds) interviewing three couples who
perform in live porn shows, two straight and one lesbian couple - who are
all also lovers off-screen - so yes, there is love involved ... though not
necessarily passion on-stage, as some of the couples admit. Now of
course, and despite framing the whole film with a live discussion, the
main concern of this movie is not to present us with any answers to these
questions, but to present us with as much sex in the process as it can get
away with, and let's be frank here, the sex involved is real, as in
hardcore, and despite not zooming in on every penetration - hey, these
were the early 1970's and the porn industry was still in its infancy - the
film sees to it that we at least get the occasional glimpse of genitalia
in intimate embrace. About two thirds in, and rather off-topic
(though a welcome change since the narrative so far has become a bit
repetitive), the filmmakers visit Bodil Joensen, a minor celebrity (in
certain circles) back then because ... well she had sex with animals - on
camera. Apart from showing Bodil trying to get a bull off with her hand
though we see no inter-species sexual encounters here (which is maybe for
the better, as this is really for the acquired tastes), but a few scenes
of animal-sex (with no humans involved) and a brief scene of Bodil having
sex with her boyfriend (this scene is not hardcore though). In
all, not a great erotic film, and probably an even worse documentary (also
since many of the bridging scenes are clearly staged to feature yet more
sex, and the interviews follow the film's intended narrative a bit too
closely), plus despite of all the sex the thing's a tad boring and falls
in half when Bodil enters the scene out of nowhere - and still, Why Do
They Do It? is an interesting document of its time and of the changing
mores of the early 1970's ... and at least some of the musical score is
pretty cool (in a nostalgic sort of way).
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