An uncommonly frank new documentary about Donna Summer begins with a series of intimate moans the whole world knows. They’re the sighs and groans that famously undulate through “Love to Love You Baby”, the 1975 worldwide smash that both made Summer a star and altered the course of dance music history. As the song plays in the background, the camera focuses on a tight close-up of Summer’s eyes; wide and innocent, searching and lost. The contrast between the worldly sound in the recording and the child-like image of the actual Summer mirrors the deep contradictions in her life, epitomising the knot of ideas and emotions this film works hard to unspool.
The relationship between the filmmakers and their subject, who died of lung cancer in 2012, helped immeasurably on that score. The co-director of the film, titled Love to Love You, is her daughter, Brooklyn Sudano, who coaxed several generations of her family to open up on camera. They include the singer’s siblings, her husband – the songwriter Bruce Sudano – as well as the co-director’s sisters.
