Claire Dolan

After seeing this film I was immediately struck by its similarities to Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman. Certainly, they are very different films, but there is a significant overlap, not just in subject matter and character--Jeanne and Claire--but also in approach. So much of Claire's life passes in silence or repetition that the parallels to Jeanne are fairly strong. Also, viewing Claire in the context of Jeanne at least suggests that having a child will not at all be the answer and solution that Claire is looking for, as motherhood did not make Jeanne Dielman's life wonderful. This film never looks as stark or as imagistic or as metaphorically thought through as Akerman's film, but as it moves along, and despite prosaic and occasionally clumsy scenes, it does attain a visual presence, and aspires to some imagistic displays. When her pimp asserts ruthlessly deterministic views of Claire, they cast a huge shadow on the events left unresolved, and few viewers can come away from this film with anything approaching an upbeat reading; but as a reminder that humans are fragile, frustrating, frustrated and often just aimlessly pathetic, this can stand alone, a stones throw away from a brilliant experiment like Akerman's Jeanne Dielman.

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For those of you who have seen this and are looking for a message, I can say that the brutal facts of life, that is to say, an animal existence, will out. Whether we are talking about sexual desire and sexual release, or about reproduction--especially that--it is the fundamental animal drives that control our lives and dictate our actions.

This movie offers nothing beyond that, and it shouldn't. It is perfect as it is. There is no phony sentimentality to entice us to delusion, or any sort of Hollywood ending. There is no redemption here. There is no spirituality. There is only desire and fulfillment; desire and frustration; desire and the end of desire which comes with... The movie doesn't say.

I don't know if this makes my top ten of the nineties--I have seen a lot of movies--but it makes my most memorable. I will not forget this stark performance by Katrin Cartlidge, who plays Claire Dolan. She does not have the charisma of a great actress, and the range of what is required here is limited, but within that range she is stunning. A good part of the credit surely goes to director Lodge Kerrigan, who emphasizes the tight, washed out lines of desperation on her face, along with her intense sexual desire and the stark, rapacious environment of the urban jungle in which she plies her trade. This is a movie that might well be viewed following Pretty Woman (1990). I wonder how many people who allowed themselves to identify with Julia Roberts as a whore, would like to identify with the high class prostitute of this film. Could they even watch it?

I was mesmerized by the sharp cuts and the film verité editing, the effective use of line and shadow, sound and silence, the clean, focused camera work. Our modern cities in all their indifference--the hard concrete and steel, the harsh lighting and intrusive sounds--are captured brilliantly. The script, cut lean and without comment, surprises us by turns, and keeps us on the edge of our seat throughout. The sex scenes are raw, intense and numerous. This is not a film for the kiddies. And that is an understatement.

Vincent D'Onofrio, who is an actor of suburb balance, plays the cabby who loves women, especially perhaps those in great need of his love, and he plays his part with subtlety and control. Colm Meaney plays the psychopathic pimp, a brutal man without conscience who uses force when necessary and a kind of cheap charm when it isn't. He has the type of the animal trainer, who plies the whip and the carrot, which he uses on women. Note well how Kerrigan has ironically emphasized this despicable man's ability to reproduce himself, making him the father of four children.

If I could sum up the life that Claire Dolan leads, I would say she lives among the wolves with a burden...her sexuality. She has a flat affect, strangely bereft of normal human expression. She is a kind of woman seldom seen on the silver scene, presented without an ounce of sentimentality. She feels life most strongly through sexuality, and only smiles at the result of sexual behavior, children. There is something profound in the realization that she is only really freed from her almost maniacal desire when she is with child. Meaney's character says he has known her since she was twelve and she has always been and always will be a whore. She will die a whore, he says. If true--and again, the movie lets us decide for ourselves--the question is, how did she become that way? The implication is that she was led or forced into prostitution at twelve. That is why she cannot feel about sex the way others feel, and that is why she finds it so difficult to feel affection for others. Hers has been an animal existence. She is always on her guard, and she shies away from a world that seems always about to hurt her brutally.

Claire Dolan (Katrin Cartlidge) is a prostitute. Like many of them, she really doesn't like sex at all, or even most men, and sees it as a job. She's in debt to her pimp, Roland Cain (Colm Meaney) after he helps pay the medical bills of Claire's dying mother. When her mother passes on, Claire runs off and starts working in a salon, and meets a nice cabby named Elton (Vincent D'Onofrio). But Cain finds her, and he wants his money.

Lodge H. Kerrigan has not directed many films, but if they are as good as this one, I would like to see them. He captures how sterile the sex Claire has is, and shows how she really doesn't enjoy it. I was a bit shocked by how many of the men spoke to Claire. I was taught not to talk to women that way, but then again, guys going to prostitutes probably aren't exactly classy people anyway. Kerrigan does great work with reflections throughout this film, and the ending with Roland and Elton talking on the street gives closure in it's own way.

The acting was awesome. I didn't know Kartlidge could be so prickly, and I would never have imagined Meaney playing a guy who could yell like that. D'Onofrio is a good actor who wasn't given much to work with, although in his last scene with Claire he is far more disturbing than I think any other actor could be, which was what Kerrigan needed. Good, but not for the squeamish, as the movie is about a prostitute and is graphic.

I've seen Claire Dolan in Paris in the theatre. It is a very brutal film, but also very powerful. I think that the director is talented, although the ending left me wanting a bit more. It's a very honest film about prostitution, and sometimes chillingly real. I was disturbed by the violence. It is very well done, with great, believable actors.

An excellent evocation of urban alienation, this film has a consistently minimal style that reveals a lot without showing much. Pure cinema, one of the most interesting independent American movies (actually it looks like a genuine European film) of the past few years. It establishes director Lodge Kerrigan as one to watch.