BBC NEWS | Special Report | 1999 | 03/99 | Tom Brook

By BBC News Online Entertainment Correspondent Tom Brook

One of the strangest, most provocative, and disturbing documentaries in recent times has just been released in America.

It is called Sex: The Annabel Chong Story and it explores the life of a woman who had sex with 251 men in the course of a 10-hour day.

Quek refuses to see herself as a victim

It was first shown last year at the Sundance Film Festival where it became one of the most sought after tickets in town.

Annabel Chong is actually the moniker created by 27-year-old Grace Quek, who claims she engaged in the sex marathon to test the boundaries of female sexuality.

She says: "I can't speak for all the women in the world, but I am sure there are certain women out there who have a part of their sexuality that's not vanilla, that's not polite.

There is a more aggressive side to female sexuality

Grace Quek

"They want to do something that's not just socially unacceptable but politically incorrect.

"There is a more aggressive side to female sexuality that's there, and I guess it's me acknowledging that part of me."

Quek's documentary, which was made by British-born film-maker Gough Lewis, has polarised audiences.

Fearless feminist

Critics, and there are legions of them, view the protagonist and her exploits as degrading, while Chong's supporters champion the film as a raw picture of a fearless feminist willing to push the boundaries of her sexuality to new limits.

The documentary shows how Quek, the daughter of middle class Singapore parents, followed an unlikely route to porn stardom.

Film has polarised audiences

She spent time studying law and art in London, moved to America to attend the University of Southern California where she developed an interest in gender studies.

The film shows Quek as an articulate, seemingly intelligent spokeswoman on matters related to pornography, and female sexuality. There is even a moment when we see Annabel Chong participating in a debate at the Cambridge Union.

Traumatic journey

The documentary, which is more upsetting than titillating, includes scenes from the orgy where Chong has sex with 250 men intercut with vignettes from her life.

It is a journey that has been packed with trauma, but Quek refuses to see herself as a victim.

The main thing about this documentary is that it would generate a lot of debate. It's very controversial

Grace Quek

In the film she revisits pivotal incidents from her life including the site where she was gang-raped in London, and the moment when she revealed to her horrified mother in Singapore that she was in fact a porn actress.

The film suggests that Quek's sexual outrageousness may have been a response to what she claims was a socially oppressive upbringing in Singapore.

Quek knows the documentary is provocative, especially when it reveals her views on female sexuality and the role of women in the porn industry.

Quek: "Do not necessarily want people to agree with me"

She explains: "I do not necessarily want people to agree with me on my points of view, but if I could get them to debate these issues and you know, well put it this way rather then disagree with me, and know exactly why they are disagreeing.

"So for me the main thing about this documentary is that it would generate a lot of debate. It's very controversial."

'Sadness and self-hatred'

Personally I found watching The Annabel Chong story left me feeling sullied, that even as a passive viewer I had somehow contributed to this women's sadness and self-hatred.

I say that because there is one extremely disturbing scene when we witness Quek, in a moment of self-disgust, lacerating her wrists with a sharp instrument.

The documentary may reveal her to be a woman of lucid thoughts, but her defence of pornography and her involvement in a mass orgy doesn't make overall sense. I just don't buy her arguments.

As for the film it purports to be documentary art, yet there is little in this work that is redeeming.

At most it's a scattered portrait of a woman with a confusing and disturbing background who has been exploited.

But Annabel Chong will not be going away. Quek is now making her own documentary on what it was like to be the subject of a documentary.

She has plans to form a production company in Los Angeles where she will work behind the camera directing sex films that will appeal to women.

The now legendary Chong persona will also remain on screen because Quek says she " might make the occasional cameo" herself.

Sex: The Annabel Chong Story is scheduled to open in London in April.