Exotica Summary

Exotica Summary (directed by Atom Egoyan)

1. Customs inspector: “You have to ask yourself what brought the person to this point. … You have to convince yourself that this person has something hidden that you have to find.” Thomas looking in one-way window. Splits cab, takes ballet tickets. Christina enters Club Exotica.
2. Inside club. DJ (Eric): “You too can have Kelly come over to your table and show you the mysteries of her world. Trust me gentlemen, trust me.”
3. Thomas at home with smuggled eggs.//Club. DJ: “What is it that gives a schoolgirl her special innocence? Her sweet fragrance, of fresh flowers, of late spring rain, or is it her firm young flesh inviting your every caress, inviting you to explore her deepest and most private secrets?”
4. Christina does schoolgirl dance to the Leonard Cohen song, "Everybody Knows" // Thomas at ballet.
5. Christina in club with Francis. Eric observes, Zoe has to call him back. Francis suddenly gets up and leaves.
6. Field with people in distance. // Thomas gives money back for tickets, turns down drink.
7. Francis in car in tough neighborhood. Gives money to girl, Tracey, and asks if she is available next Thursday. “Say hi to your dad.”
8. Zoe with Eric. Zoe: “It makes the clients uncomfortable.” Eric: “And you think your state puts them at ease?” Zoe: “What are you feeling about this?” Eric: “I guess I gotta be pretty careful about my feelings. That’s why we have a contract.”
9. Exotic pet store. Thomas complaining on phone about apartment. Francis enters. Thomas brings him to desk. Francis: “I suppose you have to be pretty careful with the temperature, with the animals.” Thomas: “Well, they’re a lot hardier than you might think.” Francis: “I wouldn’t think they’re not hardy. Just because they’re exotic doesn’t mean they can’t endure extremes. It is after all a jungle out there.”
10. Field. Eric and Christina with others. Eric: “Did you know her?” Christina: “I babysat her a couple times.” They introduce themselves. // Christina at club with Zoe. She feels baby kicking. Asks Zoe to fire Eric.
11. Francis at pet store. Finds gun. Suggests Thomas get a bookkeeper.
12. Tracey’s apartment. Her father Harold with parrot. // Tracey at Francis’s house, playing piano. Picture of wife and daughter over mantle. // Thomas at ballet. // Francis at club. Watches Christina dance for another customer. DJ: “She’ll protect him; she’s his angel.” // Tracey playing flute.
13. Francis watches Christina. She dances at his table. Christina: “What are you thinking?” Francis: “I was just thinking what would happen if someone would hurt you?” Christina: “How could anyone hurt me?” Francis: “If I’m not there to protect you.” Christina: “You’ll always be there to protect me.” Francis: “An angel. Why would someone want to do something like that? How could someone even think of doing something like that?” Christina: “You mustn’t worry.” Francis leaves for restroom stall. // Tracey in Francis’s house with family pictures, changing to video.
14. Thomas outside ballet. Thomas: “I feel bad about taking your money.” Man with long hair: “No one gives anything away.” // Francis with Tracey outside her apartment. Asks if her dad is Francis’s friend, since they are tense around each other. Francis: “As you get older, you become aware that the people you meet and the person you are is carrying a certain amount of baggage, and that baggage creates tension.” Tracey: “I don’t think that I like my dad when he’s around you.” Francis: “Your dad doesn’t like himself when he’s around me. But that’s okay. That’s part of what friends do to each other.”
15. Field. Eric and Christina talk about future plans. // Eric in bare apartment. // Eric: “I just need to find a structure. … My days just slip by.” // They meet at club. // Christina: “Do you ever feel like you need a friend?” // At club, Eric on roof.
16. Zoe choosing an outfit. Christina: “What are you looking for, Zoe? I mean, is this where you see your future? … You feel better about adopting [your mother’s] options than creating your own.” She confronts Zoe with contract for baby with Eric. Eric told Christina about secret viewing room, promised never to lie to her.
17. Thomas at symphony with customs agent. / Christina and Francis at club: “How could anyone hurt you, take you away from me?” Francis leaves for restroom stall. Eric follows. // Customs agent at Thomas’s apartment. Sees incubator for smuggled eggs. // Eric talks to Francis: “She seems to have a bit of a thing for you. … Why don’t you give her a little touch?” Francis: “What happens when I touch her?” // Flashback to video of wife and daughter. // Touches Christina. Eric throws him into street.
18. Thomas with customs agent: “It’s like petting a gorilla.”
19. Francis with Tracey. Francis: “You worry about me, don’t you?” Tracey: “You think this is normal? What we do? We don’t speak about it.” Francis: “You know that feeling you get sometimes, Tracey, that you didn’t ask to be brought into the world? Well then, who did? The question is, now that you’re here, who’s asking you to stay?” Gives her money.
20. Club. Eric explaining throwing out Francis. // Thomas on phone with customs agent. // Thomas at pet store, explaining he doesn’t have eggs. Francis arrives. Coffee with milk.
21. Field. (Eric voiceover in empty club, talking about schoolgirl innocence and sensuality.) Eric and Christina. Eric: “There’s this feeling I have that I’m never meant to be satisfied. … I feel like I want you. Do you feel that means you’ll slip away?”
22. Tracey and her father Harold. She no longer wants to “babysit” for Francis. Harold: “Francis always had strange ways to convince himself of many things, things that never happened, things that might happen, people did things for reasons that they didn’t.”
23. Francis in diner with Thomas, coaching him about approaching Christina. // Club. Christina with Thomas, while Francis listens in car. Christina: “[Francis] is a very particular case. … Do you want the full story? … Francis and I have a very special relationship. Then he chose to violate it. … I need him for certain things and he needs me for certain things. … He violated that in his role, in what he’s supposed to do for me.” Thomas: “What is he supposed to do for you? He comes to this club and he pays you. What has he done for you?” Christina: “He was always paying me to do him this favor.” Eric interrupts by calling Christina up on stage.
24. Thomas in the washroom. Eric talks about Francis, says he never gets to know Christina like Thomas does. Eric tells Thomas he was Christina’s lover.
25. Francis asks to talk to Zoe. Zoe: “Why did you touch her?” Francis: “I needed to make sure. … I’d have been disappointed. … That’s not the way she was raised.” Zoe: “We are here to entertain, not to heal.” Christina back with Thomas. Thomas tells about Eric in washroom. Thomas offers money, which Christina reluctantly accepts.
26. Francis and Tracey in car. Francis thanks her for her patience, and pays her. // Christina with Zoe; Eric enters: “I told him to touch you. … It used to be wonderful seeing how you could soothe him.” // Pet store. Francis tells story about police investigation: “[The police] thought I could harm her [his daughter].” Francis about Eric: “He took something very special from me, and I’ve had too many special things taken from me.”
27. Zoe at microphone introducing Christina for the schoolgirl dance. Leonard Cohen sings; Thomas in club, Francis outside, approached by Eric: “Don’t be afraid. I know everything about you. I found her. Your little girl.” // Field, Eric with Christina, finding Lisa. // Thomas touches Christina. // Francis embraces Eric outside club. // Christina removes Thomas’s hand.
28. Video of Francis’s daughter and wife, flashback. Christina at door. Francis driving Christina home: “We’re thinking about buying [Lisa] a better piano, an exotic baby grand.” Christina doesn’t think her parents get excited when they talk about her. Francis: “If there’s every anything you want to talk about, about what might be going on at home, or whatever, you know I’m here.” She reluctantly takes money from him. Christina: “You know, I really enjoy these drives home, Mr. Brown.”