'The Deuce' Season 3 Episode 2: Candy finds Harvey a sell-out while navigating feminist erotica and mainstream porn
Spoilers for 'The Deuce' Season 3 Episode 2
After learning that she might not have an investor for more porn movies that cater to women in 'The Deuce' Season 3 Episode 1, Candy Renee aka Eileen (Maggie Gyllenhaal) tries to find something else that could potentially fuel her passion for intelligent filmmaking further. She hopes for Harvey Wasserman (David Krumholtz) to retain his passion to be at the forefront of the French New Wave, but she finds out he is in the business for money, just like hundreds of others.
She calls him a sell-out in the second episode of the show, for catering to the masses that get off on not giving women space to explore their desire or a choice when it comes to how they interact in bed. Of course, she cannot walk out without looking back, considering she is dependent on Harvey for finances.
So what we see next is Candy direct a very "original" idea of a man and woman having sex, with a maid who walks in and then joins the couple in bed. While Candy feels it would be more interesting to watch dead people f*** than what she is directing, she does it anyway for the money.
She has her way with the scene and adds enough charm to the video to turn it into a comedy rather than a portrayal of lust. But what this shows is how much of a struggle it really is to move beyond what is mainstream porn.
When Eileen meets a potential date and he asks her what she does, her response is that she makes erotic films with a feminist twist, calling it "Femerotica". She begins by sounding confident of herself and her work, but when her date doesn't seem to react the way men usually do, she feels unsure.
This man is not into crossing off "sleeping with a porn chick" and neither does he seem too interested in understanding what it really means to be a porn film director. When she reveals further she has also starred in a few films herself and worked the streets early on, her date reveals that while her story is intriguing, it is not everything there is to her.
The way this conversation proceeds and this relationship evolves is interesting. Eileen has now been exposed to not just one man, but a group of his friends who are intelligent, non-judgemental people on the surface.
When they learn Eileen is a porn filmmaker, Femerotica to be specific, the questions that follow are fuelled by curiosity. It lacks any prejudice whatsoever and it is refreshing to see this translate well on screen.
This conversation is, in fact, reflective of one Eileen has with a street worker where she listens to her story with an open and curious mind rather than try to answer preconceived notions that float around women who work the street. When the woman tells her that a psychologist she knows said her need to depend on a pimp is connected psychologically to her relationship with her father and that her story is a cliche, Candy responds with "it isn't cliche if it's real" and it is here we see a spark of what an intelligent filmmaker she could be.
Could she be able to make a film that tells the real story behind the lives of street workers and pornstars? 'The Deuce' airs on HBO Monday at 9 p.m. ET.
