Shattered Innocence (1988)

This TV-movie begins like most others in the good-girl-goes-bad vein, but it drew me in regardless. It's quickly apparent that "Shattered Innocence" is a well-made, well-acted and written picture and it really caught me off guard. The young woman whose innocence is shattered is based on real-life porn-star Shauna Grant. Scenes such as the one where Shauna goes back home for Christmas, proudly showing off a scrapbook of nude photos to her family and then getting rebuffed by her appalled mother, are both tender and sad, and Shauna's fight to reclaim her life at the finale is quite gripping. The film doesn't have the theatrical style of something like "Star 80", but it's actually a much better film. All the acting is solid and Sandor Stern's direction is both careful and easy. His picture resonates with a sad, gritty truth that is tough to fathom but well-portrayed for our benefit.