Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life is now available on BBC iPlayer.
Tomer Heymann is undoubtedly one of the brightest documentary filmmakers in the industry; however, his latest work feels his most personal. Eight years in the making, Heymann’s Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life explores the life of the porn superstar Jonathan Agassi with a profoundly personal fly on the wall aesthetic. In Heymann’s daring doc, we offered a commentary on the demons of the porn industry, the love of family and the personal traumas of a man living through a created persona.
From the outset, Heymann has no intention of muting or censoring the porn life of his muse, as we are offered a filter-free exploration of a life lived in the porn industry. Here we are given a detailed snapshot of an industry built on money, fantasy and image as Agassi bravely puts himself, his family and his insecurities in front of the camera. But it is within the split persona of Agassi that Heymann’s delicate yet striking documentary truly finds its voice as we witness the divide between private and public that slowly eats away at a porn megastar.
Heymann navigates the ethical issues of filming Agassi with a delicate and sensitive touch, never shying away from asking tough questions while offering Agassi time to explore his own thoughts. The result is a heartfelt exploration of the light and dark of a porn industry built on sexual fantasies and the long term effects of living a double life.
