102 minutes – Drama
Language: English
Release date: September 26, 1991
Canadian Distributor: Alliance Films

Elias Koteas plays insurance adjuster Noah Render, who attempts to restore the damaged lives of his clients whose homes have been destroyed by fire. His methods are unorthodox. He sleeps with most of them, puts them up in a designated hotel, and quotes his profession’s code like a mantra: “You may not know it yet, but you’re in shock.” This amoral yet compassionate protagonist, who lives with his wife (Arsinée Khanjian) in a barren, unfinished suburban development, is one of Atom Egoyan’s most strangely compelling creations. His effective use of wide-screen cinematography portrays the terrifying abyss that separates Noah from everyone he encounters. Khanjian plays Hera, a film censor who surreptitiously videotapes the violent pornography she screens at work and smuggles it home for the consumption of her sister, a Lebanese refugee who ritualistically burns photos of bombed-out Beirut. In a plot that has been described as “deliciously twisted,” this odd and unhappy family careens on a collision course with the perverse lives of Bubba (Maury Chaykin) and Mimi (Gabrielle Rose), a filthy-rich couple who amuse themselves enacting a series of bizarre and often expensive fantasies. The film premiered at Cannes and won the award for best feature at the 1991 Toronto Festival of Festivals, where it was lauded as “a marvel in every sense of the word.” Take One’s Essential Guide to Canadian Film called it “a searching re-interpretation of Luis Buñuel’s Nazarin, with distant echoes of Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice.”