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Exotica

Exotica

Drama · 1994

In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, the club's MC, Eric, still jealously pines for her even as he introduces her onstage, but Eric is having his own relationship problems with the club's female owner. Thomas, a mysterious pet-shop owner, is about to become unexpectedly involved in their lives.

Movie details

Exotica

“In a world of temptation, obsession is the deadliest desire.”

1994 Drama 1h 43m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

21.8K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

95 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

72 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, the club's MC, Eric, still jealously pines for her even as he introduces her onstage, but Eric is having his own relationship problems with the club's female owner. Thomas, a mysterious pet-shop owner, is about to become unexpectedly involved in their lives.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Exotica?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Atom Egoyan

Written by

Atom Egoyan

Bruce Greenwood

Bruce Greenwood

Francis

Mia Kirshner

Mia Kirshner

Christina

Don McKellar

Don McKellar

Thomas

Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley

Tracey

Victor Garber

Victor Garber

Harold

David Hemblen

David Hemblen

Inspector

P

Peter Krantz

Man in Taxi

Court is in session

Put Exotica on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.