Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam

Heidi Fleiss in her own words, and everybody else's. Broomfield, who three years ago directed the startling documentary Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, is back in fine form here with this charitably unprepossessing look at the (mis)adventures of Charlie Sheen's favorite outcall service. Fleiss, the daughter of a prominent Beverly Hills physician, was nabbed in a sting operation by the LAPD in June of 1993 for running a high-priced call-girl operation that catered to Hollywood's (and indeed the world's) wealthy elite. Her court case was played out on the news and Court TV not so much because it was so terribly interesting, but because so many pre-eminent film stars, producers, and socialites were rumored to have sampled her wares. There was, of course, the infamous “black book,” rumored to contain the names of hundreds of terrified clients. Broomfield takes the tack of Roger and Me in this documentary, spending the better part of the film simply trying to track Fleiss down in between her numerous court appearances and the like. She's understandably reluctant to talk to this odd Brit at first, and so Broomfield instead searches out her legions of friends and suddenly ex-friends to get the true story, or, at the very least, as true a tale as can be gleaned from the likes of Tinseltown's scruffy underbelly. There is, for example, Heidi's ex-lover Ivan Nagy, a perpetually smiling troll of a man, well-known about town for his work in low-budget shock cinema non-classics such as Skinner. Nagy is delighted to chat up his relationship with Fleiss, for a price, and screens video footage of himself trying to persuade Fleiss to strip for the camera. He tells Broomfield the scene is “a warm interaction between two loving people,” so you know where he's coming from almost immediately. Broomfield also gloms onto Madam Alex, the former Queen of Hollywood Madams before she was deposed by Fleiss and company, and Heidi's ex-best friend Victoria Sellers, daughter of the late Peter Sellers and actress Britt Ekland. Other oddballs that wander in and out of camera range include porn star Ron “Hedgehog” Jeremy, former LAPD chief Daryl Gates, and the mysterious thug known only as “Cookie.” All this makes for a surprisingly illuminating ride through not only the life and times of Heidi Fleiss, but also the darker corners of the City of Angels. Everyone, it seems, is willing to spill their guts about poor Heidi for a price, and they do. Even Fleiss herself.