Love & Human Remains

Denys Arcand's first film in English is based on a screenplay Brad Fraser adapted from his own play. A group of people in their thirties keep entangling with each other in the same city: a former actor now waiting tables, the woman he shares a flat with, a sadomasochistic barman, a prostitute who says she is psychic. At the same time a serial killer is killing women in the city. The idea is that the murders are there not to build suspense but to be set against the indifference the characters show toward their own relationships. Everyone touches everyone and nobody attaches; the title of Fraser's play says the feeling outright. Carrying the stage text into film, Arcand keeps the speed of the dialogue, and the scenes where the talk overlaps are the best in it. It received multiple nominations at the Genie Awards in Canada. Who it is for: viewers who like nineties films about urban alienation and theatre-derived dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with sex and violence shown directly, or expecting a crime thriller.