Another Body
The disturbing subject of pornographic deepfaking deserves a better documentary than this.
What needs to be stressed here is that this film by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn airs a subject that needs to be opened up. Most people will have heard of examples of photographic trickery whereby somebody's head has been convincingly placed on a body that is not theirs. One has seen reports of celebrities being subjected to this and rather more alarmingly examples have emerged of deepfaking of this kind which has upturned lives by putting the heads of ordinary people onto naked bodies that could be seen in online porn. What I had not realised was just how widespread this had become and that is the concern of Another Body. Written statements at its close refer to the numbers of such cases doubling every six months and states that 90% of such material consists of porn involving women.
Given the key role that internet culture plays today and especially in the lives of youngsters, many of them may be all too aware of this situation, but Another Body usefully alerts and acts as a warning to those who are naive about it. In addition, it indicates the need to challenge a situation in which victims (this film speaks for America) may well be told by the police that what has happened to them does not amount to a criminal offence. Consequently, one has to welcome Another Body but at the same time I can't regard it as a good piece of filmmaking. Important as the subject is, it is not one which, as it happens, lends itself readily to the format of the documentary feature. Even so, the basic approach adopted by Compton and Hamlyn does initially seem an apt one. What they do is to place screen centre one such victim in her early twenties who tells us that her name is Taylor Klein. Alerted to a porn image on which her head has been placed, she shares with us her distress, the impact of it all, the questions that it raises us to who did it and why (she has in mind two boys she had known at school as possible perpetrators) and her realisation of how little the police can do even if her reputation has been undermined and respect for her lost. Later she discovers that a school friend has been treated in the same way.
The harrowing reality of the situation in which she finds herself is of the essence here. Nevertheless, the directors choose from the outset to go far beyond showing her as she addresses the camera. What she says is illustrated by intercut shots that dramatise the experiences that she is describing but to use such set-ups and often with contrived camera angles only makes them seem unreal. This will continue throughout the film and while we may believe in what we are being told the way in which it is presented speaks of artifice.
If that approach quickly comes to feel wrong for this material, a further issue soon emerges that raises even more questions. Not long into the film, the young woman who has told us that her name is Taylor Klein reveals that this is a lie. To preserve her anonymity, she has been allowed to use a false name which is, of course, understandable and acceptable. But another disclosure is made at the same time. We learn that it is also the case that in order to conceal her identity her face is not her real face. She – and later also the friend who also fell victim and some others as well – will be represented by faceveil actresses. Presumably the bodies are really theirs but, somewhat ironically, the image with a different head is virtually an example of deepfaking albeit for good reason in this instance and without any of the sinister connotations inherent in the film’s subject matter. But it matters nevertheless because we don't know where it ends. Are the voices we hear those of the real people? If instead they are the voices of the actresses, do they offer direct reproductions of the words and expressions of the people they are supposed to be or a more free tailored version? Alongside all of that, it is a minor point that despite lasting only 87 minutes the film becomes a bit repetitive late on.
With all these distractions emerging it is impossible to regard Another Body as presenting its material in the effective way that it deserved. But, no matter how many questions it prompts, the film does bring wider attention to a situation that unquestionably needs to be put under the spotlight and that makes it valuable.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring faceveil actresses: Ava Breuer, Faith Quinn, Julia Weinberg, Jordyn Billiau, Ezra Sara Pelaez, Nadia Wilemski, Ajna Wyowski.
Dir Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn, Pro Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn and Elizabeth Woodward, Screenplay Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn and Isabel Freeman, Ph Nausheen Dadabhoy, Ed Isabel Freeman and Rabab Haj Yahya, Animation Seungjiu Lee and Hantao Li, Music Holland Andrews.
WILLA/Impact Partners/Murmuration/Remarkably Calm Productions-Modern Films.
80 mins. USA. 2023. US Rel: 19 October 2023. UK Rel: 24 November 2023. Cert. 18.
