[title]
An adaptation of novelist Rupert Thomson’s erotic mystery/thriller that fails to find a visual or narrative equivalent for the book’s elegant prose and lubricious mysteries. A male dancer, Daniel (Tom Long), is abducted by three women, who wear face masks while sexually humiliating him. He is then dumped on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Estranged from his dance partner and lover, Bridget (Anna Torv), because he cannot talk to her about his ordeal, Daniel internalises his feelings. Then, as anger takes over, he searches for his abusers. Co-scripted by Andrew Bovell (‘Lantana’), Ana Kokkinos’s film intelligently explores the book’s central conceit, which reverses gender roles in order to explore abusive sexual power. Yet her approach is too arty and restrained.
Kudos, though, to Greta Scacchi, for her vanity-free portrayal of Daniel’s cancer-ridden teacher and mentor, Isabel, and to Aboriginal actor Deborah Mailman, whose radiant Julie offers a glimpse of salvation.