Exotica
Exotica is a 1994 Canadian film written and directed by Atom Egoyan, and starring Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirshner, Don McKellar, Arsinée Khanjian, and Elias Koteas. Set primarily in the fictional Exotica strip club in Toronto, the film concerns a father grieving over the loss of a child and his obsession with a young stripper. It was inspired by Egoyan's curiosity about the role strip clubs play in sex-obsessed societies. Exotica was filmed in Toronto in 1993.
Plot
Francis Brown, a tax auditor for Revenue Canada, is a regular visitor to a Toronto strip club called Exotica. He always has Christina, an exotic dancer dressed in a schoolgirl uniform, give him a private dance. This inspires the jealousy of the club's DJ, Eric, Christina's former boyfriend who has also impregnated the club's owner, Zoe. While at the club, Francis pays his brother Harold's teenage daughter, Tracey, to "babysit". However, Francis has no children and the girl merely practices music alone on his piano until Francis returns and drives her home. Francis' relationship with Harold is strained, as Francis learned that Harold and Francis' wife had been having an affair before she died in a car accident that left Harold a paraplegic. Francis' daughter, Lisa, had been kidnapped and murdered a few months before the accident, and he was one of the suspects but was later exonerated. These events have left a huge psychological scar on Francis.
Awards
More details
author | Atom Egoyan |
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award | Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award for Best Motion Picture Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film |
contentLocation | Toronto |
director | Atom Egoyan |
editor | Susan Shipton |
keywords | auditor ban blackmail canada revenue agency car accident covert listening device dead body exonerate exotic pet flashback gay man hyacinth macaw kidnap lap dance murder paraplegia paraplegic parked car pet store revenue canada schoolgirl uniform search party smuggle strip club tax auditor tax evasion teenage daughter uniform fetishism volunteer wiretap |
musicBy | Mychael Danna |
producer | Atom Egoyan Camelia Frieberg |
productionCompany | Ego Film Arts |
publisher | Alliance Films |
recordedAt | Toronto |
theme | independent narrative |