This Paul Thomas feature, one of the last releases to be shot on film, is an unusual and haunting psychosexual drama.

Monique plays an enigmatic young woman caught up in the drug-fueled subculture of the Hollywood music business and her interactions with three of its male denizens (the other women in the large cast are there just to fuck).

Marcos Leon plays a one-time child recording star who never really grew up. Mr. Marcus is a former drug dealer who owes big bucks to Steven St. Croix, a gangster who throws cocaine-fueled orgies and always collects his debts.

Central to the story is Alexander’s accusation of rape, which may not be all that it seems, as well as the ambivalent love that develops between Monique and Mr. Marcus, whose scenes together resonate with real passion.

There are flashbacks and flash-forwards. The story twists and turns on itself, and there’s a shockeroo of a climax, not to be divulged here. And even that isn’t the end of the surprises.

Monique does her first on-screen anal (the first shot, not released) with Leon, but the real news is her nuanced and convincing performance, her best so far.

The movie’s momentum is somewhat slowed by a scene with St. Croix and three girls, which while clever in itself, has zero relation to the story. Blame it on the demands of the sex movie genre — and try fast-forwarding to the meat of the movie.

But this is a rare film that in fact transcends the demands of the genre.