Documentary | Pamela Anderson goes bare on Netflix

Thirty years later Playboy, Baywatchas well as a certain naughty homemade video, Pamela Anderson reveals herself shamelessly on Netflix, but in a different way from the one she favored in the heart of the 1990s: by baring her soul, not her chest.

The Canadian sex symbol is the subject of a captivating documentary in which she tells her story, a story that many others have exploited until now.

Lasting two hours, the aptly titled feature film Pamela, A Love Story, which appears on Tuesday, paints a nuanced portrait of the 55-year-old actress and activist, whom we have often been portrayed as a silicone bimbo. With sensitivity, director Ryan White explores her troubled childhood, which included an alcoholic and abusive father, a babysitter who abused her for years, and above all, a rape at the hands of a 25-year-old man, who abused her. transformed into a “shy and complexed” teenager… until she posed for the first time for Playboy, a defining experience. “I had the impression that it was a gateway to a new world, to regain control of my body, of my sexuality,” she explains in front of the lens.

In interview on Zoom with The Press, Ryan White admits that he “didn’t really want to” carry out this project when one of the two sons that Pamela Anderson had with Tommy Lee, the drummer of the group Mötley Crüe, contacted him. “I had preconceived ideas, I believed she would be larger than life, complicated, difficult, jaded, superficial, very aware of the image she projects… I believed she would be completely disconnected. »

A meeting with the blonde icon was enough to allay the fears of the documentarian behind The Keepersa popular style series true crime released in 2017. “I found it easy to approach and enjoyable. »

In trust

Note to the rare telephiles who might remember: at no time does the documentary address the adventure Survivalthis Quebec miniseries in which Pamela Anderson starred with Mariloup Wolfe in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, this forgivable omission does not preclude Pamela, A Love Story to offer a complete overview of the professional and personal journey of the former pin up. Generous, the latter also let Ryan White delve into her personal archives, which included several diaries and, above all, an incalculable number of VHS with family videos that she captured using a camcorder during her tumultuous marriage. with Tommy Lee. The star had almost forgotten that she had stored this nest egg in her attic.

“When we came across this, I was like a kid in a candy store,” says Ryan White. Nothing was staged. We went to buy a VCR and a television, and Pamela came in while we were plugging in the devices. »

By her own admission, White didn’t “do much” to earn Pamela Anderson’s trust. “I would like to tell you about the efforts I put in, but no. Pamela is a sheltered person, meaning there are not many people in her inner circle, which includes her parents, her two sons and a few friends. But once you enter its socket, it opens up completely. It’s amazing, when you know how much she was judged and ridiculed. One would have thought that she forged steel armor. But no. »

“When I start a film, I usually do pre-interviews to put the other person at ease,” continues the American director. But Pamela arrived the first day in her cardigan, she sat down in front of me with no makeup and no hairstyle, and she put her guts on the table. It was really natural and raw. »

Lucidity and self-mockery

The lucidity with which Pamela Anderson recounts her career in Pamela, A Love Story will surprise many. Just like his sense of self-mockery. About Baywatch, she says: “It was a series that you could watch the closed volume. The story was secondary. »

She’s also the first to admit that she’s gotten married (and divorced) ridiculously too many times. She also refuses the label of victim, but when we know how the publication, without her consent, of an intimate video of her and Tommy Lee torpedoed her career, it is difficult to find a better adjective to qualify her status. Especially since the affair has left its mark. Her stay in court, to convince a judge to stop the distribution of the stolen medium-length film, traumatized her. Every time she thinks about it, she relives the humiliation. That’s why the fictional series based on the event released last year on Hulu, Pam and Tommy, upset her so much. In the last minutes of the documentary, we can notably see Pamela tremble when she learns that her son has watched his first episodes.

“Pamela went through an incredible number of hardships, but for one reason or another, she never lost her romantic streak, her optimism, her candor… I knew that by dissecting the phenomenon and debunking the myth in a film, it would give something interesting. »

And how !

Pamela, A Love Story lands on Netflix this Tuesday. Also available in French version.