Nina - Diary of a Porn Star - DVD

Film: At just 23 years old, Nina Roberts has already shot over 150 porn films. In front of the camera, she acts perfectly, devotedly and passionately. But as soon as the camera goes off, Nina Roberts becomes the much more reserved Sophie. A young mother who has to assert herself every day anew in a profession that repeatedly pushes her physical and psychological strength to its limits. Director Thibault Staib meets Nina Roberts in a crucial phase of her life, which he captures with his camera: the young woman wants to get out of the porn business and completely rearrange her life.

Nina - Diary of a Porn Star has become a very intimate documentary. Between Sophie aka Nina Roberts and Thibault Staib quickly developed a very close friendship and a deep bond of trust. That's why the young mother opens up to the camera in such a natural and sometimes painfully honest way. For example, she talks, seemingly matter-of-factly, about extremely unattractive, humiliating and painful sexual practices she has had to endure in the course of her career. She reveals how as a young girl, endowed with a strong libido, she discovered the power of sex for herself, but how her work has caused her to lose all forms of passion and desire, and to become dulled into a machine when it comes to sex.

Despite her many negative experiences, the fact that she doesn't discourage other young girls from getting a foothold in the porn business and instead provides them with helpful advice on how to best present themselves in front of the camera makes for an intense argument between Staib and Nina Roberts. This art figure disappears more and more as the documentary progresses, leaving the field to Sophie, who has written down her experiences and published them as a book - the final step in finally saying goodbye to her life as Nina Roberts.

Although the documentary sheds light on the porn business and the narration is at times quite explicit, Nina - Diary of a Porn Star is not a voyeuristic film. The few moments that show Nina Roberts at work at erotic fairs or on the set are filmed and edited in such a way that the director could never be accused of trying to attract attention or provoke with explicit glimpses and naked skin. In most moments, it is Nina's/Sophie's face that the attention belongs to, and that face says so much more than other footage could manage.

Thibault Staib has succeeded in making a very haunting and touching documentary that is shocking, especially in its most matter-of-fact moments, and at the same time reveals an extremely interesting insight into a business that is defined by countless myths and clichés. Open, honest, not lecturing, but simply human, that makes Nina - Diary of a Porn Star a documentary really worth watching!

Picture + Sound: The picture, shot with a simple digital camera, is largely clean, not always razor sharp, but is overall on a good level for a documentary. The sound, again usual for this genre, is decent and dominated by interviews. Overall, there is a deserved: Good!

Extras: As a bonus, there is a very interesting interview with the director Thibault Staib to see, who tells in it, how he came on the subject, how he met Nina Roberts and how the close relationship of trust between the two has developed, which makes this documentary so special. In addition to this interview, there is also a (German-language) reading sample from Nina Roberts' novel, as well as the trailer for the film and a trailer show from the provider. Not much, but good!

Conclusion: Nina - Diary of a Porn Star is a most interesting and moving documentary, which not only takes a completely unvarnished look at the porn industry, but also a very intimate and honest portrait of a very strong, but at the same time absolutely fragile personality on the threshold of a new life. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp