Exotica (1994)

One winter day in 1993, a tax inspector turned up unannounced at Atom Egoyan's office. Before he could introduce himself, he took off his jacket. ‘If you tell me where the books and papers are, you can find yours, I don't think it will take long; three or four days at the most.

During this period, Egoyan was not only unfamiliar with this situation, but he also felt increasingly uncomfortable and had nothing to hide. The inspector diligently reads invoices, reports, receipts, diaries and bills, thanks to which he is able to reconstruct the director's recent activities on the basis of financial traces.

He talks briefly about his life. But the inspector, particularly quiet and reserved, said nothing about himself. He doesn't even show it. You could even see that he was trying to hide behind the smoke of the cigarette he smoked moderately.

To protect himself from the feeling of nudity, Egoyan focuses his professional skills on imagining the inspector's most intimate life, visualising it in his spare moments. And he imagined (it seemed to him a sign of coherence) devoting himself to the contemplation of naked, innocent human beings, without touching them, as if looking into a polarising mirror.

In his fantasy, Egoyan took him to a strip club, turning him into a regular customer, obsessed with a stripper performing dressed as a schoolgirl. ‘One of our beautiful dolls’. Mia Kirshner wears a little pleated dress.

A place with a thick atmosphere, full of corners and shadows. ‘What gives a student that special innocence?’ I was obsessed with looking at her, checking her out, checking how revealing her uniform was but not touching her.

The club has strict rules.Yes, the inspector stood there for hours, motionless, focused, withdrawn and depressed, not because of some anxiety, like when you don't get a promotion, or maybe your wife beats you, or you get spots on your liver, No;

Besides, along the way there will be a serious misfortune, perhaps a tragedy, a blow that will have to be dealt at the end of the inspection day, for example in a bird shop, in an importer. Immigrants make money from the illegal smuggling of exotic species. eggs ... strange ... bird ... bird

Exotica: a good name for a club.

Egoen sat at his desk and looked at the inspector who was poring over piles of documents. When the inspector looked up and cleared his throat, Egoen smiled at him.