Leaving Las Vegas
A screenwriter moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death and begins a relationship with a sex worker who accepts him without trying to save him.
Academy Awards, Best Actor win plus Director, Adapted Screenplay and Actress nominations, 1996
Ben, a Hollywood screenwriter who has lost his career and family to alcohol, sells his possessions and moves to Las Vegas with the settled intention of drinking himself to death. There he meets Sera, a sex worker, and the two form an intense relationship built on a pact that she will not ask him to stop.
The film holds the death drive and desire side by side, refusing the redemption arc: love here does not cure, and one person's determination to die coexists with genuine tenderness. It is a stark case study in self destruction and in loving without rescuing. It won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1996, with further nominations for Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Actress, and is based on the novel Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien.
Details
- 1995
- United States
- English
- Film