(1994 Canadian independent film)

Exotica is Bruce Greenwood's first movie for Atom Egoyan, a cult figure in Canadian cinema, who literally plucked Greenwood out of bad boy television roles to cast him against type as Francis, a grieving tax auditor obsessed with a stripper who dresses like a school girl for her act. The movie teases the viewer with multiple story lines told in a non-delinear time structure, but all the variant plots gradually interweave and then unpeel layer by layer to uncover a simple and unexpectedly moral theme with Francis as the central protagonist, whose tragedy affects everybody else in the film. His relationship with the dancer is heartbreakingly revealed in a telling flashback that brings the story full circle.

The importance of this film can hardly be overstated as it won the International Critics' Award at Cannes, top awards in Belgium and France and swept the Genies in Canada with a nomination for Bruce Greenwood himself as Best Actor. Many film scholars consider the movie a masterpiece; it's certainly a film to savor, full of hidden imagery and subtle inferences. It was a pivotal work for Atom Egoyan, as well. While still a highly personal undertaking, it's the endeavor that catapulted his reputation into celebrity status. And more significantly for Bruce Greenwood fans, it marks the beginning of a collaboration that would later produce The Sweet Hereafter and Ararat along with the promise for more joint ventures in the future.

The oppressive nature of Francis remains unlike anything else Greenwood has done, but Egoyan was also one of the first directors to tap into his innate decency and gentle sweetness with much of the film's success relying on his ability to create a sense of ambiguity. Indeed, the performance must be seen more than once to fully realize how straightforward it is, since the viewer has been enticed into a completely different direction. Greenwood long considered Exotica the highlight of his career, and it remains a seminal turning point, a film that quietly but undeniably altered his career.

Exotica made its world premiere at The Cannes International Film Festival in May, 1994, and after winning the International Film Critics Award there made a much heralded tour of various festivals, the most important venue being The Toronto International Film Festival in September, 1994. It opened in Canada immediately after the festival, but its American premiere came at The New York Film Festival in December 1994 followed by a limited release in major cities on March 9, 1995.

Exotica is widely available on video and as a DVD without extras. In addition, it broadcasts regularly on almost all the various pay stations.

An Ego Arts Film Production, a division of Speaking Parts, Ltd.