Netflix’s documentary about Pamela Anderson wants to wrongfoot us from the start. The very first thing we see is the Baywatch star digging out an old VHS tape, telling us she’s nervous to watch it. Wait, she’s not…? Not that one… Surely not. And… no! Obviously not! The Nineties queen of Playboy turned sometime political activist isn’t about to revisit the stolen sex tape that blew up her life at the height of her fame. Instead, she’s looking at old home videos in which Tommy Lee, her now ex-husband, proposes marriage (famously just four days after they first met).
The story Ryan White’s film – Pamela, A Love Story – wants to tell us is about a star who has always subverted expectations. From the frank answers she gives to endless sleazy talk show hosts, to her latter-day campaigning, Anderson is a celebrity who has always been a bit smarter than people want to believe, often just that one little step ahead. We find her back at home in Canada, make-up free, hanging out with her mum and her kids. She’s recently divorced for the fifth time – she had wanted to try “normal”, clearly it wasn’t for her – and has been going through old diaries and videotapes. “I’m looking for a feeling I can’t find,” she tells us.
