Softcore erotica pretending it's a thesis defense. Academic, baby.
Lauren is a young woman who takes to conducting interviews with a handful of amorous experiencers as a means of compiling stories for a research paper she's writing about a mysterious force that a number of sexually active people have been recently describing to her as entering them and working upon them like some kind of aphrodisiac.
Writing
Dialogue that treats 'aphrodisiac force' like documentary material.
Acting
Performances committed to faux-intellectual gravitas.
Production
That distinctly 2000s softcore aesthetic, all satin and saxophone.
Director
Kelley Cauthen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Surrender epitomizes the late-90s/early-2000s 'erotic thriller' direct-to-video boom, where softcore films borrowed prestige aesthetics from indie cinema to justify their existence.
Director Kelley Cauthen helmed numerous Playboy and late-night cable productions; this was among her attempts at 'elevated' material within the genre constraints.
US
