Valentine's story is certainly unusual, as is The Girl Next Door, Christine Fugate's documentary about her. In some respects, this is a companion piece to Paul Thomas Anderson's porn piece Boogie Nights. I admit that there's a certain level of curiosity which gets raised by the subject matter. While I have never found pornography to be titillating or arousing in the least, there is still something compelling about the behind-the-scenes world of porn filmmaking. I often wonder what kind of people do this for a living. I suppose, to some degree, the question can now be answered.

Stacy Valentine is not quite what I expected. She's more naive than calculating, more sweet than slutty, more sad than troubled. She believes that sex is the one thing in life she's good at. Much like the Dirk Diggler character in Boogie Nights, she has found a place where she belongs. The job is fun and satisfying to her.

Housewife-turned-porn star Stacy Valentine

The Girl Next Door follows Valentine to work, which proves to be less visibly sleazy than I might have expected. There's a comradery among the filmmakers and a gallows humor as well. While they take it very seriously, they also recognize the inherent strangeness of what they're doing. The on-the-job problems are also pretty unique; at one point, a male co-star is unable to perform. Valentine seems to regard this as unprofessional. Another problem is the need for a "D.P." - a "double penetration" shot in which the star is simultaneously penetrated from both front and back. The crew regards Stacy as a pro, even though some of the things required of her are intimidating and/or objectionable. Later on, there is sickeningly graphic footage of Stacy undergoing breast augmentation surgery (she has lip enhancement done as well) which is part and parcel of projecting an image.

The film's central focus, however, is not the job itself but the life of the person who does the job. Fugate explores Valentine's life off the set, including her tempestuous relationship with boyfriend Julien. He's also a porn star, one who comes off as good-hearted but slightly dim. Stacy seems like she's trying to find something - some kind of acceptance for who she is as a person, rather than as an object of lust. Winning the Hot D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival is great, but being loved would be more fulfilling. Julien tries to be a good guy, even when Stacy's neuroses are getting in the way.

Although the topic is a bit salacious, The Girl Next Door is a seriously-intentioned documentary. It is an attempt to examine the inner workings of a woman who went, as the tag line says, "from housewife to porn star." It's a journey few will make in this life. And yet the movie left me feeling empty. Stacy is sometimes maddeningly obtuse; her thoughts and emotions are bigger than her vocabulary. She tends to go round and round, making the same points repeatedly. That would be okay if the movie probed a little more. I couldn't shake the feeling that there's more to this life than what the camera (or the subject) revealed. As foreign as Stacy's world is, I nevertheless found myself becoming bored at times.

The Girl Next Door is in-depth, but it's not in-depth enough. I have no doubt that Stacy Valentine is more than the sum of her parts. She's a woman with a heart and soul that yearn for love and respect. And while the film has its flaws, it at least - for 90 minutes - gives her a legitimacy she may never again have in the eyes of the general public.

( out of four)

The Girl Next Door is unrated but contains full-frontal nudity and graphic sexual content. The running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.