Denys Arcand made his English-language debut with this adaptation of Brad Fraser’s award-winning play Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, which played in Toronto and New York to rave reviews and sold-out houses. Like Arcand’s 1986 success, Le déclin de l’empire américain, this film is a portrait of contemporary life, but one generation younger. Love and Human Remains explores the lives and loves of a group of cynical twentysomething singles who are confronting the realities of big city life in the nineties, while trying to decipher their needs and desires.

The ensemble cast revolves around David (Thomas Gibson), a former-actor-turned-waiter who recently came out of the closet, much to the disappointment of his roommate Candy (Ruth Marshall), who is not-so-secretly in love with him. Not-so-secretly in love with Candy is Jerri (Jo Vannicola), who continually tries to get Candy to explore her more adventurous side. David is pursuing Kane (Matthew Ferguson), a young busboy at his restaurant who may be attracted to David’s friend Benita (Mia Kirshner), a dominatrix moonlighting as a psychic. A serial killer, meanwhile, is thinning the city’s prostitute population, and David’s best friend Bernie (Cameron Bancroft) raises suspicions with his large collection of women’s earrings.

Marketed as a film about the lives of ‘Generation X,’ Love and Human Remains is ultimately about the confusion and insecurity of relationships — gay and straight — and the despair that creeps into life as romantic hopes fail to materialize. It also examines whether confronting loss and connecting with others necessarily leads to overcoming personal alienation and chaos.