''Allure'' is a 2017 Canadian

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and c ...

film written and directed by

Carlos and Jason Sanchez Carlos and Jason Sanchez (Carlos born 1976 and Jason born 1981 in Montreal, Quebec) are Canadian fine art photographers known for their large-scale dramatic images. Thematically, their work centers on the psychological reflections of their subject ...

in their feature film debut. It stars

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work ...

Julia Sarah Stone Julia Sarah Stone (born November 24, 1997) is a Canadian actress. She began studying theater at the age of six, and appeared in a number of school plays over the following years. After booking a small part in an independent short film in 2009, sh ...

, and

Denis O'Hare Denis Patrick Seamus O'Hare (born January 17, 1962) is an American actor, singer, and author noted for his award-winning performances in the plays '' Take Me Out'' and ''Sweet Charity'', as well as portraying vampire king Russell Edgington on HB ...

. It originally premiered under the title ''A Worthy Companion'' at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 7 to 17 September 2017. There were fourteen programmes, with the Vanguard and City to City programmes both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down b ...

. In December, TIFF included the film on its annual

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema" ...

list of the ten best Canadian films.

Plot

Laura Drake (

) is an emotionally disturbed young woman who works as a house-cleaner for her father's company in an urban environment. One day, Laura meets an unhappy teenager named Eva (

) while on the job. The pair form an unexpected connection, and Laura eventually convinces Eva to leave her oppressive mother and move in with her. Though the relationship initially works, Laura's anxiety soon makes her abusive and controlling, creating an unstable bond between the two women.

Cast

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 46% based on 28 reviews, and an average rating of 5.88/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Allure'' has visual style and an intriguing Evan Rachel Wood on its side, but a clumsily told story leaves this sexually charged thriller less than the sum of its parts." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The Sanchez brothers received a nomination for the

Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...

DGC Discovery Award DGC can refer to: Businesses and organizations * Darlton Gliding Club, Nottinghamshire, England * Daybreak Game Company, an American video game developer * Delhi Golf Club, Delhi, India * Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie, a German organiza ...

.Barry Hertz
"Directors Guild of Canada reveals long list for Discovery Award"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', September 5, 2017.

References

External links

* 2017 films 2017 directorial debut films 2017 independent films 2017 LGBT-related films 2017 psychological thriller films 2017 thriller drama films Canadian independent films Canadian LGBT-related films Canadian psychological thriller films Canadian thriller drama films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Montreal Lesbian-related films LGBT-related thriller drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films {{psychological-thriller-film-stub