User:GenerationWasted/Driftwood (1997 film)

Driftwood is a 1997 Irish erotic psychological thriller. It stars James Spader and Anne Brochet. It was directed by Ronan O'Leary and based off a novel of the same name by Richard M. Waring.

Sara (Brochet) is a French sculptor living in a remote part of Ireland near the coast. It is clear that she has no family or friends, and works only in her workshop on a sculpture. One day, walking on the beach, she comes across a man (Spader) who has washed ashore. Half-drowned and suffering from a broken leg, Sara takes him back to her cottage and nurses him back to health. She discovers the man is suffering from severe amnesia, and has no idea what happened or what his own name is. Plagued by loneliness and desperate for a companion, Sara tells the man that they are all alone on a remote island. The only contact with the outside world is a supply boat that visits every few months. Sara, who didn't have much contact before, keeps the man isolated in the cottage.

At one point, a few villagers are riding around on the beach outside Sara's cottage, and the man mistakes the sound for a plane. As he tries to get ready, Sara rushes outside with a shotgun and scares the villagers off. She then proceeds to put up a sign warning off all trepassers. She fashions a pair a crutches for the man, and the two become closer. Finally, after an episode of chasing an escaped goat, the two make love. However, as the man's leg heals, he expresses a desire to not only explore the rest of the island, but to leave altogether. We find out that Sara is keeping her mother in the workshop, and never lets the man see inside. The conversations between Sara and her mother reveal a shared fear of abandonment brought on by Sara's father leaving when she was young. Her mother tells her to give up, and that everyone leaves, but Sara insists that they are in love and he needs her.

As the situation progresses, it becomes harder and harder for Sara to keep the man isolated, and her attempts get more desperate. Ironically, as she falls more and more in love with him, the man seems to be growing apart, and at one point asks what she would think if he discovered he was married and had a family. While walking on the beach, the man sees a smaller island not too far from the shore. He inquires about the inhabitants of the island, and Sara tries to diffuse his desire to leave. The man claims that she can't make him stay, and Sara expresses that she loves him and needs him around. The man then takes to building a boat to leave the island, hinting that the boat will be only for him. One day, the man retires to go fishing, and a man from the village, McTavish (McGovern), comes to bring supplies to Sara. He brings the bags into the shop as the man is coming back from the shore.

Desperate for an out, Sara kills McTavish with an ax and keeps his body in the shop. When the man wants to see the sculpture Sara has been working on, she firmly stands between him and the door. Suspicious of her behavior, the man deduces that something has happened and he is going to look in the workshop. Running out of ideas, Sara quickly claims that she is pregnant, which seems to distract the man from workshop. After finding a note on the table, Sara runs to stop the man from leaving. While she is gone, two police officers, presumably looking for McTavish, enter the workshop and find his body. Sara tries desperately to stop the man from leaving, and he claims that he'll come back later. She declares her love for him, but the man says he does not love her and leaves Sara to weep on the beach.

The movie ends with the man washing ashore another island with people standing around him. It is unclear if he remembers his life with Sara or not.