Claire Dolan

Claire is either a call girl called Lucy, or a screwed up lady with a desire to please. Sex dominates Lodge Kerrigan's second feature. His first - the unforgettable Clean, Shaven - dug deep into the psyche of a schizophrenic. This is less of a thriller than a who-are-you?

Katrin Cartlidge (Naked, Breaking The Waves) has an intensity that goes beyond Method into an area where eroticism freezes. There is clarity to this coldness that reflects the architecture of the city.

Claire owes money to a pimpish Irishman (Colm Meaney), after borrowing for her dying mother's hospital care, and is in the process of working it off when she meets a handsome taxi driver (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is not like her business clients.

By avoiding the cliche of tart-with-a-heart, Kerrigan dives into the murky depths of psychological motivation, implying that Claire's insatiable sex drive is a cry for help. Whether the film is soft porn, wrapped in intellectual hooha, or a Kafkesque run- around, whereby no one is safe from the multiple personality syndrome, is hardly worth considering.

What Kerrigan appears to be saying is that sex for its own sake is better than dead frogs in a pillowcase, but only just, and sex with love cannot be trusted, because who knows what baggage comes attached. Although chilling and unfulfilled, the film remains a work of originality.