Taglines: In a world of temptation, obsession is the deadliest desire.
Exotica movie storyline. This psychological thriller is true to its subjects as well as being complex, dynamic, and overly dramatic. How something so long ago, seemingly trivial, years later with more significant trauma, turns repressed emotions into a dysfunctional life and distorted thinking. This is all merged into a psychological menagerie that unfolds piece by piece to perfection.
Exotica is a 1994 Canadian drama film set primarily in and around the fictional Exotica strip club in Toronto. It is written and directed by Atom Egoyan and stars Mia Kirshner, Elias Koteas, Sarah Polley, Bruce Greenwood and Don McKellar.
The story concerns a father grieving over the loss of a child and obsessed with a young stripper. It was inspired by Egoyan’s curiosity by the role strip clubs play in sex-obsessed societies, and rules at the time forbidding clients from touching dancers. Exotica was filmed in Toronto in 1993.
Marketed as an erotic thriller on its release in Canada and the United States, the film proved to be a major box office success for English Canadian cinema, and received positive reviews. It won numerous awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and eight Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture.
Art directors Richard Paris and Linda Del Rosario built the Exotica strip club set in an unused room in the Party Centre, a Toronto building, with construction commencing in May 1993. During production, a number of people arrived onto the set believing it was a real club. For the outside of the club, the filmmakers used a shop on Mutual Street which has since been torn down, outside Metropolitan United Church. Osgoode Hall is used for the opera house.
Director Atom Egoyan, who wrote the screenplay, first conceived of the story in the fall of 1992, intrigued by the ritualistic nature of table dances and the rule that clients can’t touch the dancers, envisioning a story of a dancer having a main customer. He believed a strip club could be an important setting for a film because of society’s sexual obsessions, and the roles of such clubs as “a collective sexual outlet”. While wanting to portray the clubs accurately, he also believed he could bring a skeptical perspective.
He began working on the screenplay in February 1993. In writing it, he “wanted to structure the story like a striptease, gradually revealing an emotionally loaded history”. He also cited thriller films as an influence. Although the city in the film is not named, Egoyan stated Exotica and his other films portray “different areas of Toronto”.
The film had a $2 million budget, with $900,000 coming from Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Film Development Corporation pledging $700,000.[3] To save money on the film, Egoyan’s personal Volvo station wagon is used as Francis’ car.
The cinematography was done by Paul Sarossy, with Egoyan saying the goal of the camerawork was to capture the perspective of a missing character, in this case Francis’ dead daughter. Principal photography was completed by July. Composer Mychael Danna recorded his score for the film from India, with influences from classical music in India.
Exotica (1995)
Directed by: Atom Egoyan
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Mia Kirshner, Arsinée Khanjian, Don McKellar, Sarah Polley, Victor Garber, Jack Blum, Damon D’Oliveira, David Hemblen
Screenplay by: Atom Egoyan
Production Design by: Linda Del Rosario, Richard Paris
Cinematography by: Paul Sarossy
Film Editing by: Susan Shipton
Costume Design by: Linda Muir
Art Direction by: Linda Del Rosario, Richard Paris
Music by: Mychael Danna
MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality and language.
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: May 16, 1994 (Cannes), March 24, 1995 (United States)
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