Helmut Newton: Frames From The Edge

Noted photographer Helmut Newton is the subject of this quasi-biographical documentary which follows Newton on model searches and joins him during some nude photography sessions. Controversial because of the occasionally dehumanizing way women are made to appear in his photos, Newton basically treats women like meat, and it's something of an enigma why interviewees Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Sigourney Weaver, Faye Dunaway, and Candice Bergen, among others, fairly gush over the guy. Defending his continued work in commercial photography, Newton claims: "If I cut myself off totally, I'll cut myself off from the supply of beautiful women." The key word here is "supply," which gives the viewer a pretty good idea of where this hombre is coming from. An objective documentary on the man would have at least offered viewers the choice of forming their own opinions, but Helmut Newton: Frames From the Edge is neither objective nor complete. In the early minutes, we see the aging Newton tooling down the L.A. strip talking away, while a beautiful woman in a nearby car slows and shares a little chit chat with the great man. To say that the scene comes off a bit staged is rather an understatement. White the production values are top-notch and the program itself is occasionally interesting, the fact that this is really little more than a self-addressed love letter to a moderate talent makes the program of dubious worth at best. Not a necessary purchase. (Available from: Public Media/Home Vision, 5547 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60640-1199;1-800-262-8600.)