Cinema
Exotica
Atom Egoyan · 1994
Synopsis
Toronto. Francis, a tax auditor, comes every evening to the Exotica, a strip club, for the same dancer, Christina, dressed as a schoolgirl; the club's rule forbids touching the dancers. Eric, the disc jockey, Christina's former partner, watches them with jealousy, and Zoe, the pregnant owner, runs the club she inherited from her mother. Francis also audits the accounts of Thomas, an animal dealer who smuggles in macaw eggs, and uses him to draw him to the club.
Context
The film was presented in competition at Cannes in 1994 and received, jointly, the International Critics' Prize. The narrative proceeds in fragments, each scene shifting the meaning of the previous ones. The animal dealer is played by Don McKellar, who had co-written François Girard's portrait of Glenn Gould the year before, and the owner by Arsinée Khanjian. The film was released in France as early as November 1994.
Who it is for
One hour forty-three minutes, with a deliberately disordered narrative; the club and the dances are filmed without complacency.
Prizes and reception
Eight Genie Awards, including those for best film and best direction; its author's first major commercial success.
Sources for this page 10
The pages consulted to check this page.