The Adjuster
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''The Adjuster'' is a 1991 Canadian
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...
, his fourth feature film and the first to achieve international acclaim. The film won five awards, as well as two other nominations upon its initial release.


Plot

Insurance adjuster Noah Render lives with his film-censor wife Hera in a barren, unfinished suburban development. He spends his time rescuing clients of his company whose homes have burned down. His methods are unorthodox. He puts them all up in the same motel, visits them frequently, sleeps with some of them (men as well as women) and forever quotes his mantra: "You may not know it yet, but you're in shock." His wife also subverts her responsibilities, bringing home steamy film clips to share with her reclusive sister. A parallel plot involves a wealthy and bored couple, Bubba and Mimi, who seek sexual adventure. On the pretext of shooting a film, probably pornographic, they rent Noah's isolated house and he moves his family to join his clients in the motel. Returning late one night, he finds his family gone and assumes that they have returned home. Rushing there, he finds his house is burning down.


Cast


Reception

This film is considered to be one of Atom Egoyan's most strangely compelling creations. His effective use of wide-screen cinematography portrays the terrifying abyss that separates Noah from everyone he encounters. Egoyan based the film on a true story in 1989, when a fire burned down his parents' home. He realized how strange it could be for victims of a house fire to be emotionally dependent on insurance workers, which led to the inspiration for the project. Egoyan promoted a book named after the same title as his film, ''The Adjuster'', at a launch in
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
. It is a film analysis written by Tom McSorley, a head of the
Canadian Film Institute The Canadian Film Institute (CFI) () involves Canada in the film production, study, appreciation process of film/moving images for cultural and educational purposes. The Canadian Film Institute organizes ongoing public film programming and artist ...
. This book is part of an examination of Canadian cinema, in a series for the
University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...
. The author goes into intricate depth about ''The Adjuster'' as he traces the genesis, production, and reception of the film. McSorley claims that it is a watershed film. The film
premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...
d at the
New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center. Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, NYFF i ...
, and was invited to the Director's Fortnight program at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
. The film opened with generally favorable reviews. On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds a score of 73% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. Both
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
and ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...
gave positive reviews for the film's initial release. It was selected as one of ''The New York Times' Best 1000 Movies Ever Made''.


Accolades

The film garnered several accolades. At the 17th Moscow International Film Festival it won the Special Silver St. George. It also won the Best Canadian Feature Film award at the 1991 Toronto International Film Festival; Egoyan accepted the award and trophy, but declined the $25,000 cheque that came with it, and instead donated the money to John Pozer, who had been the runner-up with his film '' The Grocer's Wife''. TIFF later ranked the film tenth place in its 1990s run of the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time. (In the updated 2004 version it was replaced by another Egoyan film, '' The Sweet Hereafter'', released in 1997, in the fourth place.) ''The Adjuster'' was awarded Best Canadian Film and Best Ontario Feature at the Sudbury Cinéfest, the Special Jury Prize at the
Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...
, and the Golden Spike at the
Valladolid International Film Festival The Valladolid International Film Festival, popularly known as Seminci (short for ; ), is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain. First held in 1956 as ('Valladolid Religious Film Week'), the Seminci is one of the longest-standing fi ...
; all taken place in same year of its release in 1991.


References


External links

* *
Canadian Film Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adjuster, The 1991 films 1991 drama films 1991 LGBTQ-related films 1990s English-language films Canadian drama films Canadian independent films English-language Canadian films Films about sexual repression Films directed by Atom Egoyan Canadian LGBTQ-related films Films scored by Mychael Danna 1991 independent films 1992 drama films 1992 films 1990s Canadian films English-language independent films