Claire Dolan, an immigrant from Dublin, works as a call-girl in New York to pay off her mounting debts to her pimp. Her stream of clients are all affluent businessmen who have sex with her, pay well and then move on. She seems to drift through New York life without a trace of emotion. However when her mother dies in a nursing home, Claire tries to change her life. She starts an affair with Elton Garrett. She wants to have a child with him and he helps her with her debts. In the end, Claire realises that she is the only one she can trust.The story about a woman who tries to conquer her difficult surroundings on her own terms is set against the background of a consumer society in a clinical New York, filmed in straight lines, that stresses the feeling of isolation and alienation. Kerrigan, whose début film Clean, Shaven made quite an impact at the Rotterdam festival in 1995, came across the subject for his film when he saw several very pregnant prostitutes near Times Square. The fantastic soundtrack is a crucial element in the balance of the film, as it was with his début. The leading roles in this French production are played by Katrin Cartlidge (Naked, Breaking the Waves) as the unsentimental Claire, Colm Meany (The Snapper) as her upper-class pimp and Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) as Elton Garrett.
- Director
- Lodge Kerrigan
- Country of production
- France
- Year
- 1998
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 1999
- Length
- 95'
- Medium
- 35mm
- Language
- English
- Producers
- MK2 Productions, Serene Productions
- Sales
- MK2
- Screenplay
- Lodge Kerrigan
- Production Design
- Sharon Lomofsky
- Music
- Simon Fisher Turner
- Local Distributor
- Cinemien