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Plot

Hal Hartley's fourth feature is a significant break from the quirky romantic comedy territory of his previous work -- though all of the deadpan idiosyncracies which make him such a singular filmmaker remain intact, here he tries his hand at the thriller genre, a move yielding typically unconventional and innovative results. Amateur stars Hartley mainstay Martin Donovan as Thomas, an amnesiac who, in the first scenes, wakes up in an alley, badly injured; he stumbles to a nearby coffeeshop where he meets Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert), a former nun and would-be nymphomaniac who now makes her living writing pornographic fiction. She takes him back to her apartment, where in time his past slowly begins to emerge -- a sharp contrast to the sweet, even naive soul that Huppert has befriended, it appears that the old Thomas was in fact a vicious pornographer whose attempted murder was at the hands of his wife, adult film star wife Sofia (Elina Lowensohn). Thomas is also the target of a nefarious European arms merchant whose hired guns are hot on his trail.
MPAA Rating:
R for violence and language.
Genre(s):
Comedy,Drama,Thriller
Run Time:
105min.
Theatrical Release Date:
04/05/1995
DVD Release Date:
11/11/2003
Director(s):
Themes:
Haunted By the Past,Amnesia,Redemption,Unlikely Friendships
Tone:
Cerebral,Deliberate,Humorous,Literate,Whimsical,Stylized,Quirky
Keywords:
amnesia,murder,nun,nymphomaniac,on-the-run,pornography,redemption,wife
Language:
English