SLIFF 2010 Review: THE CANAL STREET MADAM

Andy Warhol once remarked that everyone will get fifteen minutes of fame. But what happens when someone tries to extend that fifteen? And what if that fame is of the notorious  nature? These are questions raised by the Cameron Yates directed documentary THE CANAL STREET MADAM. The filmmakers follow Jeanette Maier has she tries to survive after landing in a scandal that dominated the national news just a few years ago.

Maier is first interviewed not long after the headline making FBI raid on her New Orleans brothel that employed not only her but her mother and daughter. Old home video footage is played slowly while we hear the FBI phone recordings of her business transactions. Aided by one of her girlfriends, Maier tries to launch several business ventures to cash in on her fame: raunchy CD recordings and lingerie. After a felony conviction she’s blocked from selling real estate and the nursing profession. Her relationship with most of her family is strained. Her daughter is determined to put the past behind her while one son is just getting released from jail as another son battles drug addiction. We observe Maier and her friends viewing the CBS TV docudrama based on her story. This puts her back on the news and on the road to advocate the legalization of prostitution. A NYC trip to appear on the Anthony and Opie radio show turns disastrous when the live audience’s cruel chants drown her out. She even flirts with a run at public office. Several times we see her on the phone pleading for help with her finances. When the DC madam scandals hits, Maier announces she will out her client list. The cameras follow her in the aftermath of Katrina, delivering food and water to her neighbors. Soon Maier has started another business: high priced scented candles with extra “personal” customer benefits. It seems she can’t escape “the life”.

The movie’s a fairly somber look at how the fates can conspire to keep women trapped in the world’s oldest profession. Maier reveals how being molested by an “uncle” may have set her on this path. Her work seems to have almost destroyed her family. The filmmakers don’t try to paint her as saint or victim, but as a  woman trying to escape her past and not quite succeeding. This a powerful, intimate portrait of a survivor trying to beat the odds.

THE CANAL STREET MADAM will play during the 19th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival on Friday, November 19th at 7:15 pm at the Tivoli Theatre.