Atom Egoyan’s Exotica is a paradoxical film. It is intense, yet distant. Erotic, but sterile. Hollow, but pithy. It is sure to provoke debate, as viewers will likely complain about what they may have missed. However, it is precisely this type of confusion and controversy that makes this one of the best movies ever to come out of Canada.
You don’t want to know too much of the story, as that would spoil some of the surprises that make Exotica such a challenging and rewarding experience. However, this much can be told: the central character, Francis (a tortuously perfect performance by Bruce Greenwood) spends his days auditing a pet store that is a front for illegally imported exotic birds while spending his nights trying to exorcise his demons in the otherworldly strangeness of the movie-titled strip club.
The club is full of odd souls as well: the DJ, Eric, played with appropriate intensity by Elias Koteas, who must watch his ex-girlfriend (Mia Kirshner, in an exciting star making performance) dance for Francis while also carrying on an affair with the very pregnant club owner (Arsinee Khanjian), who just happens to be carrying Eric’s baby. This is just the premise, mind you.
The many threads of this story are admirably and intricately woven together until we reach a climactic set of scenes that clarify everyone’s relationships and act as a catharsis for both the characters and the audience.
That the customers at Exotica appear to be in a trance, listening to the gloomy tunes of Leonard Cohen while watching the girls dance, and that the central figures all have massive emotional problems that we can only begin to guess at, gives Exotica an off-putting air for much of the first hour. However, the last half hour of the film brings everything together in a most satisfying, almost tender, conclusion.
