Exotica

Atom Egoyan’s Exotica (1994) carries its innermost secrets the closest to its labyrinthine structure. Francis (Bruce Greenwood), an accountant, attends the gentleman’s club Exotica almost nightly, keeping a vigil with one of the dancers, Christina (Mia Kirshner). Meanwhile, the DJ at the club, Eric (Elias Koteas), who once slept with Christina, seems to internalize his jealousy as he watches her interact with Francis, but this internalization festers and seemingly threatens to become something more dangerous.

Egoyan introduces what feels like subplots to this scenario, as we discover that Francis’s daughter and wife were both murdered in separate incidents. This realization transforms the sexual need that we initially perceived in the relationship between Francis and Christina into a need that is simultaneously more pathological and devotional. Meanwhile, throwaway characters become more integral to the story, and this leisurely pace lets Egoyan slowly unveil each new development so that each character reacts organically rather than with mechanical predetermination.

Yet Exotica is centered in its psychological realism. Francis touchingly has his niece (Sarah Polley) babysit the house whenever he is at Exotica, even though there is no one to babysit. Moreover, as we discover that Eric and Christina found the body of Francis’s daughter in a country clearing, we come to realize that Eric’s terrorizing of Francis is not out of petty revenge, but something closer to a transcendent offering of himself so that Francis can find in himself absolution.

As a result, the film ultimately works in terms of how it intercuts all that the audience understands about the fundamental characters of Eric, Christina, and Francis. All of them undergo shifts in psychology as their lives are continuously changed by the knowledge they share. Christina’s offering to Francis becomes all the more tragic and quasi-religious as the film reaches its climax, yet Egoyan refuses to let the film descend into a revenge killing. Instead, Egoyan closes the film with an image of communal healing, while offering up a potent image from Christina and Francis’s past that beautifully underscores the currents which now guide their lives.

Psychologically rich and filled with tremendous vision, Exotica works as a character study, but also as a film that tells of communal forgiveness and acceptance.

Exotica: 10/10