Intimate Portrait: Dr. Susan Love.

Cowritten and directed by Wendy Lobel (Lifetime, premieres October 22; check local listings)

Reviewed by Michele Kort

If Susan Love didn't exist, a novelist or screenwriter would have to invent her. With that surname, the ex-nun turned breast surgeon, lesbian, political activist, and best-selling author (Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices About Menopause) seems almost too good to be true. In this made-for-cable biography--which screens during Lifetime's observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month--even Love admits that when she first considered cardiology as her medical specialty, she imagined the PR value of a " Love" doctor who healed hearts.

Narrated by breast cancer survivor (and former Love patient) Linda Ellerbee, the program gives almost as much weight to Love's personal life as to her famous public life. That's appropriate too and not prurient, since Love has made the fight for lesbian rights second only to her struggle to increase federal funding for breast cancer research.

As filmmaking goes, however, this portrait of Love is far from imaginative. It's a predictable mix of talking heads and old snapshots, and it fails to address the debates surrounding Love's views on subjects such as mammography. Nonetheless, presenting Love as a prime-time heroine for both her work and her uncompromising life choices makes this is a notable program.