NM says in an earlier comment that one of the things she liked about "Exotica" was how, as a "Twin Peaks" fan, she thought it had similarities. I agree that the mood and unexpected plot turns are similar.
But the comment also made me reconsider just how unconventional "Exotica's" story is. "Twin Peaks," as unique as it is, begins with a Hollywood- or audience-friendly tale: It centers around the mystery of a young woman's death. (And the series fell apart once the mystery was solved, even with all the strong supporting storylines.) This is the stuff of most audience-friendly fare: "Without a Trace," "C.S.I.," etc., with pretty women or children as typical victims.
Yet even though the murder of Francis' daughter is the motive/link we're waiting for during much of the movie, it's pretty much glossed over as no more than a senseless and tragic event. The movie's more about the emotionally burdensome aftermath (much like "The Sweet Hereafter"). There isn't even much exploration of why Francis was viewed as a suspect, other than the possibility that he thought Sara wasn't his child. I don't know whether Atom Egoyan had trouble either making or financing his films, but I admire him in retrospect for serving up a story that doesn't pander to traditionally audience-friendly storylines. There's a young girl's murder that isn't romanticized or exploited in any way.
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Here's a Washington Post article about pretty female victims. I think I read a variation of it in Entertainment Weekly or another magazine in the last year. It's kind of off-topic, but anyway:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091600360.html
You're right, it's not a film about a tragedy, it's about what happens to the survivors of a tragedy.
This brings me back to my dismay at the description of this movie as an "erotic thriller." It is neither erotic nor a thriller, and I think that is possibly the worst movie marketing I've ever seen.
Thanks for putting up that link. I’ve never watched any of those shows, so I don’t know much about them. That article reminded me of one reason I don’t watch them.
Hollywood (and TV) shows lots of people getting killed or suffering other violence. Most of the time there is no interest in the aftermath. The basic Hollywood plot that does deal with the aftermath is revenge. The violent act figures as nothing more than a motivating device for the hero to go kick some ass with the audience’s approval.
I’m glad you drew attention to how Egoyan treated the murder. He leaves out all the usual storylines: how was she kidnapped, how was she killed, who did it, why. None of these things matter anymore since Francis’s daughter will never come back, and everybody has to live with that however they can. I also think it was good that Francis being a suspect is also no in the past. When a child is killed, parents are often—perhaps with good cause—suspected of doing it. But this can turn out to be wrong. It is hard to imagine both losing your child and then being accused of the murder. What does that do to you? Isn’t it strange that the subject is actually rare in the movies?
The environment of this movie is surprisingly exotic after all, isn’t it?
Erin, you are so right about that. How could there have not been somebody who knew that was what the film is not. That marketing probably kept away a lot of people who would want to see this movie.
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