A semi-paralyzed radio reporter is sent out to investigate a story that leads him into an odd subculture and on a journey of disturbing self-realization.
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Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.
Director:
Tom Tykwer
Stars:
Ben Whishaw,
Francesc Albiol,
Dustin Hoffman
Isaac Knott is a public radio reporter in New York, in a wheelchair since an auto accident in which his parents died. He's on the rebound from a relationship when he gets a tip about people who want to be disabled, who offer money to interns to cut off a limb. He searches out a group of these wannabes, but none will talk to him. Then he meets his tipster, Fiona Ankany, an art conservator, attractive and attracted to him. She discloses her desire to be disabled, to be in a wheelchair. Meanwhile, Isaac tries on a pair of wing-tips, spectators, that restore feeling to his feet. What are the connections? What's Fiona's quid pro quo? Will Isaac get his story? Written by
<jhailey@hotmail.com>
[first lines]
Isaac:
I don't remember *any* of what I'm about to tell you. I only know what the police and coroner's report said. But on the morning of April 5th, 1989, a high-speed car crash occurred, on a rural highway in upstate New York. There were 2 fatalities: my mother died on impact, my father died of hemorrhaging from a torn pulmonary vein and massive internal injuries. I'm listed as a male survivor, approximately 8 years of age. We were going down a road. Nobody had said much of anything yet....
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Set on the very fringes of underground society, Carlos Brooks' "Quid Pro Quo" is a humane and compassionate tale of non-handicapped people who have a pathological obsession with becoming either partially or totally disabled (or at least living their lives as if they were). In the most extreme cases, some will even go so far as to stage accidents, endure amputations or employ special drugs to turn their fantasy into reality. And, like anyone who's harboring a deep, dark secret from a critical world, these people are forced to live their lives in the closet, terrified that they will be rejected by those they care most about if they reveal the truth of who they really are inside.
Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) has been a paraplegic since he was a teen, the result of a car accident in which both his parents were killed. He's now a reporter for a local radio station and it is through an assignment for his work that he meets a group of able-bodied "wannabes," as well as an attractive young woman named Fiona (Vera Farmiga from "Up in the Air") who desperately wants to live life in a wheelchair and implores Isaac to help her achieve that goal.
This quiet and gentle, though emotionally complex, film rises above its potentially tricky subject matter through insightful performances, sensitive writing, and a plot that nicely dovetails into itself in the second half. We discover that there's a great deal more to both Isaac and Fiona and their relationship than initially meets the eye, and those revelations go a long way towards deepening the theme and enhancing the characters.
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Set on the very fringes of underground society, Carlos Brooks' "Quid Pro Quo" is a humane and compassionate tale of non-handicapped people who have a pathological obsession with becoming either partially or totally disabled (or at least living their lives as if they were). In the most extreme cases, some will even go so far as to stage accidents, endure amputations or employ special drugs to turn their fantasy into reality. And, like anyone who's harboring a deep, dark secret from a critical world, these people are forced to live their lives in the closet, terrified that they will be rejected by those they care most about if they reveal the truth of who they really are inside.
Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) has been a paraplegic since he was a teen, the result of a car accident in which both his parents were killed. He's now a reporter for a local radio station and it is through an assignment for his work that he meets a group of able-bodied "wannabes," as well as an attractive young woman named Fiona (Vera Farmiga from "Up in the Air") who desperately wants to live life in a wheelchair and implores Isaac to help her achieve that goal.
This quiet and gentle, though emotionally complex, film rises above its potentially tricky subject matter through insightful performances, sensitive writing, and a plot that nicely dovetails into itself in the second half. We discover that there's a great deal more to both Isaac and Fiona and their relationship than initially meets the eye, and those revelations go a long way towards deepening the theme and enhancing the characters.