It is clear what drew Denys Arcand to the play – the story swims in the same rich sea of metaphors as Jesus of Montreal did. The film’s characters all want something – sexuality in the 90s, screenwriter/original playwright Brad Fraser (himself gay) says, is either a shiftless search for fulfilment or else denial. Although in the end summation Fraser eventually condemns those who engage in serial sex without commitment. And it is here that the film ultimately moralizes (perhaps conservatively and perhaps disappointingly), although the way Brad Fraser makes his moral point is quite breathtaking. The analogy drawn between the serial killer and serial relationships is a striking. In the moment that Ruth Marshall goes to bed with Rick Roberts and he convinces her he doesn’t need a condom, the analogy made between the serial killer who may hide behind anybody’s face and the killer virus that may hide inside anybody’s body is made strikingly. Even more startling is the climactic encounter between Thomas Gibson and the killer. The killer’s dismissal that his victims were “just secretaries and hairdressers” sounds alarmingly close to the same character’s previously demonstrated willingness to simply use women as sexual partners and dump them and Gibson’s similar if less callous usages. This swimming play of analogies between AIDS, random sex and serial killing is quite brilliant.

Brad Fraser’s script is a very good one, even in terms of its dynamics. The red herring developments about who may be the killer is well done. Fraser allows the characters to carry the plot and there are some fine moments when they are each given the opportunity to lay their souls bare. There are a series of extremely good performances right across the board from the whole cast. Especially good is the lithely good-looking Thomas Gibson, just before he went onto fame on tv’s Chicago Hope (1994-2000) and Dharma and Greg (1997-2002). His sharp and witty line in deadpan sarcasm is enormously appealing.