Wait, not sure if I got all of it?
So, a few questions to throw out there:
1.) Were the women supposed to be prostitutes?
2.) And if so, what did they do for the photographer?
I dont think we're supposed to be clear on that. We know, they are either escorts, or form a dating service, and that he is looking for someone who resembles his wife. Which he found eventually in the last Egyptian girl.
shareI like to think that they are actresses from a casting agency. That we all think - at first - that they are prostitutes is an interesting comment on the similarities between the "cattle-call" of both escorts and actresses. Then again, I might be just reading too much into that, and escorts they are.
Did you notice that the first 2-3 women are extremelly different in types, light hair/straight hair, tall/petite, etc...and as time goes on they begin to ressemble his wife more and more. From the outset though he is also obviously "auditioning" their voices, by "cue-ing" them with the emptying of the wine to go talk on the phone all the while with his back to them. Because of that, to answer the original poster's question, I don't think they are there "to do" anything sexual "for the photographer."
A very interesting (I know I hate that word too but it is what it is) film that I disliked at first, but is so layered that it stayed with me longer than several later Egoyan pictures.
The fact that we are still discussing it is quite telling and also cool.
Cheers.
"Captain Crunch was just here...didn't you meet him on the stairs?."
I think what he's doing is trying to recapture the moment of complete misunderstanding when he is photographing the sheep and thinking about how much he loves her-- while at the same exact moment the driver and his wife are talking in fornt of him and falling in love.
He recreates these moments by having the "prostitutes" talk dirty on the phone and "cheat" on him in a different language in the middle of their set up romantic date.
I agree he was using these women to recreate a similar scenerio that he expereinced with his wife. I think he's trying to understand how he unknowingly watched his wife fall in love with another man. I think the photographer is baffled why he didn't pickup on their body language, chemistry, innendos....etc. He's now trying to make sense of it all. Even though the photographer doesn't speak or understand the language these women are speaking, it's obvious the phone calls are sexual in nature. (nor could he understand conversations between his wife and the driver) In hindsight there is an inclination to see events that have occurred as more predictable than they in fact were before they took place.
Hey, did you ever try dunking a potato chip in champagne? It's real crazy!
Very good topic this one. Really. Do you imagine how frustrating is watching your wife talking a language you don't understand and feeling yourself completely isolated? Talking to another man, a guy very interesting but one you couldn't face with your direct words.The more i think in this movie, more i like it.
shareWhat he is doing is very similar to what Bruce Greenwood's character in Exotica is doings - it's a masochistic ritual that he feels is somehow therapeutic, when in reality until he gets past it, he'll never really move on. He's torturing himself going through this repetitive event.
shareStunning parade of women, those escorts he hired.
share