Main Cast: Elias Koteas, Arsinée Khanjian, Maury Chaykin, Gabrielle Rose, Jennifer Dale
Release Year: 1991
Country: US/CA
Run Time: 102 minutes
Plot
Written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, The Adjuster is an examination of the sexual quirks of a married couple. Starring such Egoyan regulars as Elias Koteas, Arsinée Khanjian, Maury Chaykin, and Don McKellar, the film focuses on Noah Render (Koteas), an insurance adjuster who enjoys sleeping with his clients, and his wife, Hera (Khanjian), a film censor who finds excitement in making copies of the most explicit parts of the movies she's assigned to review. When they invite Bubba (Chaykin) into their house to make a movie, the Renders find their lives becoming even more complex. McKellar plays a young film censor who works with Hera. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Review
In 1991, three years before he gained international attention with Exotica, unorthodox Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan added to his already considerable reputation as a daring adventurer by making The Adjuster. As he had done in such previous films as Family Viewing, Egoyan masterfully scripted mundane situations involving seemingly unremarkable people -- in this case an insurer adjuster -- that peeled away to reveal psychosexual and emotional quagmires. Egoyan's customary troupe of players includes Elias Koteas as the nosy insurance man and Egoyan's wife Arsinée Khanjian as a hypocritical film censor. Difficult, risqué, and rife with Egoyan's customary deadpan, flat dialogue, The Adjuster has many of the elements that would be so masterfully realized in Exotica, and the film is a must for fans of the idiosyncratic Egoyan. By the end of the decade, he would be established as an uncompromising filmmaker with such more acclaimed, more accessible films as The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia's Journey. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
David Hemblen - Bert--The Head Censor; Rose Sarkisyan - Seta--Hera's Sister; Gerard Parkes - Tim; Patricia Collins - Lorraine; Don McKellar - Tyler--The Young Censor; Stephen Ouimette - Larry--The Butterfly Collector; Raoul Trujillo - Seta--Hera's Sister; John Gilbert - The Doctor; Paul Bettis - The Wild Man of the Billboards; Tony Nardi - The Motel Manager
Credit
David J.Webb - Associate Producer, Maya Mani - Costume Designer, David J.Webb - First Assistant Director, Atom Egoyan - Director, Susan Shipton - Editor, Mychael Danna - Composer (Music Score), Nicole Demers - Makeup, Linda Del Rosario - Production Designer, Richard Paris - Production Designer, Paul Sarossy - Cinematographer, Atom Egoyan - Producer, Camelia Frieberg - Producer, Linda Del Rosario - Set Designer, Richard Paris - Set Designer, Atom Egoyan - Screenwriter
The Adjuster tells the story of an insurance adjuster who becomes intimate with his clients. The adjuster initially appears to want to help his clients but as the movie unfolds it is clear that the situation is more complex. But, the story is a bit ambiguous about his motives and he seems to be somehow a victim of his own situation.
In This Corner (1985) ·Gross Misconduct (1993) ·Sarabande (1997) ·Krapp's Last Tape (2000) ·
Short Films
Howard in Particular (1979) ·After Grad with Dad (1980) ·Peep Show (1981) ·Open House (1982) ·Men: A Passion Playground (1985) ·Looking for Nothing (1988) ·Montréal vu par... / Montreal Sextet segment: En passant (In Passing) (1991) ·A Portrait of Arshile (1995) ·The Line (2000) ·
Diaspora (2001) ·Chacun son cinéma / To Each His Cinema segment: Artaud Double Bill (2007) ·
