In this experimentally tinged film, individual segments gradually combine to tell the intertwined stories of three outsiders (a child patricide, a doctor dying as a result of his own research, and two homosexual prisoners). Inspired by the work of Jean Genet, the film includes elements of horror, violence and the erotic. The feature-length debut of now-renowned US director Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven, I'm Not There) is an essential American contribution to 90s queer cinema, and in terms of form, it is the polar opposite of Hayes's most recent film, the academic Carol.