‘Love To Love You, Donna Summer’ Is Homespun Meditation On Life Of Disco Aphrodite

I’m always taken aback by just how many era-defining hits Donna Summer had. From 1975 to 1991, she landed over 30 singles in the Billboard Top 100, 14 of them in the top 10, four of them hitting #1. Just as impressive is the breadth of material, from ‘70s funk to proto-EDM to reimagined standards to video-era pop. Her vocal approach changed at will, from ethereal to sensual to soulful, depending on the song. You can understand why she had mixed emotions about being called “The Queen of Disco” when she was so much more. It’s one of many wounds revisited in Love To Love You, Donna Summer, the new HBO documentary currently streaming on Max.

The film was directed by Brooklyn Sudano, Summer’s daughter, and filmmaker Roger Ross Williams who began working on separate documentaries independently before joining forces. Rather than revisiting the well-trodden road of the disco era and its excesses they endeavored to create a more intimate chronicle of the singer’s life and work. Summer died from lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 63 yet seems startlingly present, seen in reams of candid footage and heard in interviews where she openly discusses her professional achievements and personal hardships. Longtime husband Bruce Sudano and Summer’s three daughters also feature prominently in the finished effort via home movies and new interviews.    

The film begins with a close up of Summer as the soundtrack moves between her feigned orgasms in “Love To Love You Baby,” her commercial breakthrough, and the futuristic Eurodisco of “I Feel Love,” arguably her greatest musical moment. Her eyes dart from left to right with suspicion, as if she doesn’t trust either side. “I have a secret life,” she says. “You’re looking at me but what you see is not what I am.” Summer’s public persona was often at odds with her sense of herself while her status as a disco icon obscured the scope of her abilities.

Donna Adrian Gaines grew up in Boston’s hardscrabble Mission Hill where the white kids from the projects beat up the black kids in the projects. A scar on her cheek was the result of being chased by a mob of kids and left her feeling disfigured and “inadequate.” If there was trouble on the streets, there was love at home. She says she knew she was going to be famous after her singing reduced her church congregation to tears.  

She and her teenage rock band fled the confines of Boston for the freedom of New York. She moved overseas after being cast in a German production of the hippie musical Hair. She stuck out there as a tall, slender, beautiful black woman and found work as a model, actress and singer. “Being in Germany gave me license to be myself. And I hadn’t had that license before,” she says. She fell in love, married and had a daughter, Mimi. Summer admits motherhood didn’t come easy to her and her professional ambition took precedence over her home life. “There was too much fire in me,” she says with frankness and regret.  

Returning Stateside in the mid-’70s, Summer found success as disco moved from gay dance clubs into the American mainstream. “Love To Love You Baby” cast her as a sublime sex goddess but she never felt comfortable with the role, a result of her church upbringing and the trauma of being molested as a teenager by her pastor.  Though her ‘70s hits literally define the sound of disco, her talent and tastes were wider and she aspired to act and direct. “I’m not trying to be me,” Summer says of her singing, approaching each song like an actor playing a role.

Intensely private, Summer blanched under the spotlight and suffered through abusive relationships and bad business deals. It got so bad, she nearly jumped out of a hotel window but was saved at the last second by her cleaning lady. She wed musician Bruce Sudano in 1980 and though they would raise two children together and remain married until her death, he admits they fought often. When the hits dried up and Summer’s career began to wane, she almost welcomed it.

At times, Love To Love You, Donna Summer feels almost too personal, as if Brooklyn Sudano is using the film to work through her relationship with her mother or process her death. Sister Mimi Dohler is the film’s secret star, sharing hard truths about Summer and painful details of her own abuse. The film also discusses in detail Summer’s Born-Again Christianity, her remarks on homosexuality, which were misquoted and nearly cost her her audience, and her physical decline and death. It never seems exploitative, however, and ultimately creates a more vivid picture of who Summer really was. 

With its meditative atmosphere and dependence on home movies and extended performance footage, Love To Love You, Donna Summer runs longer than it is, which actually works in its favor. The viewer comes away with a new understanding and appreciation of Summer. Besides being “Queen of Disco” she was a masterful singer, a hit songwriter, an artist with incredible vision and ambition, as well as a daughter, sister, lover and mother. She saw great success and made great mistakes. Her humanity makes her achievements even more impressive. 

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.