Exposé

Plot synopsis:
Paul Martin (Kier) is a novelist who rents out a secluded cottage in the British countryside in order to complete his new book, a pretentious sex romp. Plagued by recurring paranoid nightmares, he has split with his girlfriend Suzanne (Richmond) and is having problems writing his book. Paul employs a secretary, Linda Hindstatt (Hayden), to type the manuscript for him. Paul meets Linda at the railway station, where Linda is intimidated by a couple of youths, prompting Paul to give them a battering. After settling into the house, Linda takes a walk in a field where she is raped by the youths but soon gets revenge when she shoots them both with a shotgun. Meanwhile, Paul keeps having nightmares and all his advances on Linda are rejected. Linda insinuates herself into the household, displacing the housekeeper, Mrs. Aston. When a suspicious Mrs. Aston returns to the house at night, she is murdered: her throat slashed with a knife. As he and Linda work on completing the novel, Paul asks Suzanne to come back only to have Linda seduce her. As Linda and Suzanne have sex, Paul then crashes his car into a river, the brakes having been tampered with. Suzanne is murdered in the shower and everything erupts into a pandemonium of violence.

Tags: murder

Review:
Quite flawed, yet oddly compelling. Far from being incidental, the theme of continuing child sexual abuse *is* the story of "Footsteps." (Alternate title: "Expose.") A haunting, disconnected portrayal of the deep effects on the psyche of this type of abuse, the film itself takes on the characteristics of those sexually abused from a young age. The seemingly aimless, stilted, dissociative quality of the movie is a reflection of one of the main characters. Her story unfolds in an enigmatic fashion, deliberately drawing on one of the key aspects of the child victim's personality – the quest to be unknowable, yet cherished. Although the sexual capriciousness shown in the movie often seems gratuitous, it is also tragically characteristic. Told on an 'insider' level, there is no psychiatric consultant on the side constantly interpreting the characters and events for us. Even though this movie leaves much to be desired, it is nonetheless compelling, in no small part due to the music of Amilia K Spicer, whose compositions imbue the viewer with an awareness of subtleties which the movie's characterizations do not satisfactorily express. The artists who perform 'Sodom' undergird the final moments with a sense of inexorable ruination, which nearly makes their acting out superfluous. In spite of the fact that this film is often clumsy and superficial, and too thoroughly graphic, the compassion and purpose behind Daphna Edwards' effort shines through. Apparently, she took on this amateurish effort with a mission in mind. Those looking for mere entertainment will be unimpressed.. Who gave this a 10?. Whenever I see a movie that doesn't have a comment, I try to add one. A tough assignment for this nothing movie.  The movie starts and ends like it is a "message" movie against the current system of returning battered children to their abusers.  It's an interesting message, but the movie that occurs in between has nothing to do with it.  It is kind of a whodunit, but the acting is so bad that it almost views like one of those softcore porn movies--it's just a little light on the sex for that style.  Sandra Bernhard's acting is so stilted that it reminded me of a Saturday Night Live skit where they try to act badly.  The daughter gives even the worst child actors hope.It isn't even good bad TV because it tries to get all serious at the end with its child abuse message.  Kind of a buzz kill if the ending unintentionally cracks you up the same way it with me.