Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Molly Parker | ... | Julia | |
Veronica Ferres | ... | Lauren | |
Lorraine Bracco | ... | Gemma | |
Greta Scacchi | ... | Lucia | |
John Malkovich | ... | Roberto | |
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Alan Fawcett | ... | Bill (as Allan Fawcett) |
Dorothée Berryman | ... | Bag Lady | |
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Steve Bratzlaff | ... | Filippo |
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John Glasspoole | ... | Adam |
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Linda E. Smith | ... | Kelly (as Linda T. Smith) |
Yahsmin Daviault | ... | Bree | |
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Anne Dryburgh | ... | Wig (as Anne Dryburg) |
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Genevieve DuPaul | ... | Dancer Student #4 |
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Julien Irwin Dupuy | ... | Young Boy |
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Gillian Ferrabee | ... | Luella (as Gillian Ferra Bee) |
In an ethereal, high-ceilinged room, women stand, waiting. Perhaps it's Purgatory and they're dead. In the room, two young women, one an actress and the other a psychologist, watch the last few days of their lives on a TV screen. Both are having affairs with married men, each has a long encounter with her lover's wife, and both these scenes take place in a ladies' room, one backstage at a play that's about to preview, the other at an opera house during the first act. The relationships between each pair of younger and older women take surprising turns, and in the room with the TV, a sylph asks probing and challenging questions of the two young women as they watch. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
This is an off-beat yet charming feminist comedy with a deft dialogue and great photography. The cast is top-notch, in particular Lorraine Bracco and Molly Parker. However John Malkovich's unconvincing turn as Italian Lothario Roberto is both funny and embarrassing but you wonder if that was the intention in this slyly witty Italian production set in Montreal. The conceit of the ladies room is handled well and becomes the centrepoint for anxiety and female companionship. This is, in effect, a celebration of female solidarity in a very surreal, Italian way with a quirky Canadian twist. It's not for everyone's taste but it's better than most films that call themselves comedy today. Expect the unexpected.