In "The Pornographer", a veteran director of some 40 pornographic films, Jacques Laurent (Léaud), comes out of professional retirement in an attempt to settle some debts. As an artist, however, he feels increasingly out-of-step with the commercial demands of the industry, and on set one of his producers takes over the directorial reins for a crucial sex scene.

Meanwhile, his teenage son Joseph (Rénier), who disowned his father on learning of his profession, gets back in touch, causing the washed-up Jacques to ponder even more the meaning of his own life...

The second feature of French-Canadian director Bertrand Bonello, "The Pornographer" is a cool, thoughtful character study, in which pornography can be read as a metaphor for the practice of film-making.