UK Premiere

Rotten Tomatoes' Critic's Select

Short Synopsis

An erotic mystery about power and sex, the entanglement of victim and perpetrator, and a man's struggle to regain his lost self.

Review

Daniel (Tom Long) is a gifted, up and coming dancer/choreographer who goes missing while running a routine errand for his girlfriend and fellow dancer, Bridget (Anna Torv). With just hours to go before the opening night of a new show, everyone, especially devoted company director Isabel (Greta Scacchi) is left perplexed.

Twelve days later he reappears at the loft he shares with Bridget bearing suggestive scratch marks on his back and signs of mental anguish. Once it becomes apparent that he is in no state to cope with the daily routines of his old life, he leaves again, this time to turn his back on his career to live an anonymous life working in a pub.

In flashback sequences we witness scenes of him being kidnapped, drugged, bound and gagged and at the mercy of a trio of heavily cloaked women who use him for their own sexual pleasure.

Australian director Ana Kokkinos has crafted a highly stylised film with lush cinematography and art direction. Tom Long is perfectly cast as the emotionally scarred dancer and Greta Scacchi brings depth to the role of Isabel. Based on the UK novel, co-written by Kokkinos and Andrew Bovell (Lantana), The Book of Revelation poses the question - if men were the victims of rape, assault and sexual objectification, would it be tolerated?

Suzanne Ballantyne