Atom Egoyan, a Canadian photographer and his wife, Arsinée Khanjian, travel to their Armenian homeland so Atom can take pictures for a calendar. Though he does manage to print twelve beautiful photographs, his marriage falls apart in the process. Left all to himself, the photographer proceeds to romance a different woman each month. During every date however, he has each girl make an erotic phone call to another person.
Come November, Atom is pleasantly surprised to discover that his new lover is also Armenian, and for the first time since his divorce, he does not want a third party called for stimulation. But just as he and his new girlfriend begin to understand their parallel pasts, Atom's still beloved ex-wife, whose videos and phone messages he obsessively replays, calls with the excruciating details of her every infidelity...
Egoyan, also the film's director, is in true form with a dense, powerful production that will mystify viewers even as it demystifies its dark, complicated protagonist. In a style somewhat akin to Woody Allen, this film weaves together a conflicting, nuanced portrait of relationships as it explores the tensions of love, longing and loss. All in all, CALENDAR is a profound, brooding work that fractures time in an incomparably provocative style.
