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Review

An electric, highly atmospheric character study, Young Adam unfolds in 1950s Scotland, where the amoral young Joe (Ewan McGregor) and barge owner Les (Peter Mullan) discover a nude corpse in the river. The victim is Cathie (Emily Mortimer of Bright Young Things), and flashbacks reveal that she once had a very passionate relationship with Joe. Now, Joe is setting his sights on both the future and Les’ wife Ella (Deep End’s Tilda Swinton), with whom he begins a passionate tryst. Director David Mackenzie (The Last Great Wilderness) gets the zeitgeist of the “angry young man” era absolutely right, and Young Adam is as caustic and riveting as Britain’s kitchen-sink dramas of the post-war period. McGregor immerses himself in the lead role, delivering one of his best performances to date—and he also gets to indulge in plenty of heated erotic encounters with his female co-stars. The remarkable Swinton and the striking Mortimer have palpable on-screen chemistry with McGregor, and their respective love scenes are raw and powerful, providing the film with a candid eroticism that has generated controversy (and ratings debate). Driven by an original David Byrne score, Young Adam is a sordid love story not easily forgotten, and a provocative film that will have viewers talking long after the credits roll.