Still a virgin after 15 years in a convent, the demure Isabelle earns her living in New York by writing pornography, which she researches by buying magazines and hiring videos. In a café she befriends Thomas, who has amnesia after falling from a window. In another café, an accountant called Edward is befriended by Sofia, who pushed Thomas out of the window because, she says, he introduced her to drugs at the age of 12 and made her into a celebrated porn actress. She now wants revenge on Jacques, a crooked businessman for whom both Thomas and Edward worked. Learning that Edward has data on disk that could destroy Jacques, she lifts the disks from him and directs him into the hands of Jacques' hit men, who torture him and leave him for dead. Meanwhile, in a hired video Thomas sees Sofia in action and his memory starts returning. With Isabelle he retraces his steps and finds the flat where he and Sofia lived. Isabelle dresses in one of Sofia's sexy outfits and is on the point of losing her virginity to him when someone enters and the two hastily hide. It is Sofia, pursued by Jacques' hit men who tie her up and begin to torture her. Bursting out, Thomas and Isabelle throw one hit man out of the window and, freeing Sofia, make off with her in the other hit man's car. Outside they find Edward, badly damaged but not dead, and the four head for an empty country cottage that Edward knows. On the way Isabelle posts the disks to her publisher, asking him to expose the evil of Jacques. When the surviving hit man traces them to the cottage, he wounds Sofia before being shot dead by Edward. The four make off before the police arrive and Isabelle directs them to her former convent, where they are given sanctuary and the dying Sofia is tended. But the convent is surrounded by armed police, who want Edward for murder. Thomas, his conscience awakened by the kindness and care Isabelle has shown, by the realisation of his criminal past, and by guilt over the fate of Sofia, walks out of the front gate and is killed instantly by a police marksman.
Cast
Isabelle Huppert - Isabelle
Martin Donovan - Thomas
Elina Löwensohn - Sofia
Damian Young - Edward
Chuck Montgomery - Jan, first goon
Dave Simonds – Kurt, second goon
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features excerpts from various alternative artists:
