"SPEAKING PARTS" is an odd movie that seems to be self-consciously similar to David Lynch's work, or perhaps, going back a bit, Michelangelo Antonioni.
This tale of an obsessive hotel chambermaid who yearns for the love of a fellow worker, a movie extra aspiring to become a star, has equal moments of hilarity and puzzlement, but in the end seems artificial and unsatisfying.
Yet there are some striking visual moments as Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan explores sterile lives in a society dominated by technology _ particularly video. This is sort of "sex, lies and videodrome."
The story has the actor (Michael McManus) selling out in a number of ways, including sexually, to get ahead. He has a mixture of ethical concerns and selfishness that he never seems to come to terms with, particularly as regards a screenwriter (Gabrielle Rose) he meets. Meanwhile the chambermaid (Arsinee Khanjian) pursues him to the end, despite advice from a philosophizing video store clerk who shoots weddings, funerals and orgies on the side.
Art film buffs may find something of value here, but for the most part this movie is as sterile as its characters and in the end the audience may feel a bit numb _ not from any power the film offers but from being frequently bored over the film's 90 minutes.
"Speaking Parts" is not rated, but the orgy scene, intercut with a boardroom sex scene, would doubtless earn it an R for sex and nudity. There is also a single spoken profanity.