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Review

Bad-boy director Abel Ferrara continues his examination of moral ambiguity (Bad Lieutenant) with this verité pas de trois between a film director (Keitel) and his two leads (Madonna and Russo). They're working on a nauseating little film in which Russo plays a husband who continually abuses his wife (Madonna) and subsequently both attempt to escape their life of drug abuse and debauchery.

Using the device of a film within a film, Ferrara warps the distinction between illusion and reality as the three principals become ever more enmeshed in their on- and off-the-set shenanigans. Ferrara shows a deft directorial hand, but that won't help most viewers overcome the film's repugnant core and unrelentingly nihilistic viewpoint.