Heidi Fleiss: The Would-be Madam of Crystal

* When and where: 7 p.m. Monday, HBO

Has hell finally frozen?

You might think so to watch Heidi Fleiss: The Would-be Madam of Crystal, HBO's sympathetic documentary about the infamous Hollywood madam, and her efforts to open a brothel in Nevada after serving three years in jail on drug and tax charges.

Poor Heidi. What's a girl (even a fallen one) to do? She arrives in Crystal, Nev., about 75 miles from Las Vegas, determined to open Heidi's Stud Farm, a brothel that caters not to men, but to women. She figures 20 buff stallions will have women of all stripes lining up to hop in the saddle.

Of course, this being Heidi Fleiss, nothing is that easy. She buys a 60-acre parcel for $42,000, immediately angering locals who have coveted the parcel for years only to be told it was out of their price range at several million. They suspect she bribed someone to get her hands on it.

Others in the county don't take kindly to the stud-farm idea, and Heidi finds herself befriending a retired madam next door and her dozen exotic birds. It turns out Heidi Fleiss has a soft spot for parrots. Who knew?

Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato follow Heidi from L.A. to Nevada and chronicle her efforts to fix up the homestead she bought, even as she tries to maneuver the political minefield of Nevada brothel law. She's sure she can convince the community of her good intentions, but she may have met her match in a cranky bar owner who all but sneers at Ms. Fleiss' efforts.

We get snippets about Heidi's background - the nice Jewish family from which she hails, how a trip to the horse track lead her to become a madam - but mostly the film tries to rehabilitate Heidi Fleiss as a businesswoman on the wrong end of a misogynistic culture.

It doesn't help that Fleiss looks like she's on the wrong end of a crack bender half the time, pale and listless, and that the only people who offer perspective on her as a person are her lawyers. Not exactly objective sources.

To date the stud farm hasn't become a reality; this hourlong documentary explains why.

It also takes pains to paint Heidi Fleiss in a kinder, gentler light. Trouble is, most of that light is colored by Fleiss' own words, and she's not the most credible person to offer commentary on her own life.