Less startling than Clean, Shaven, Lodge Kerrigan's debut study of a haunted schizophrenic, Claire Dolan is still a visually ambitious and boldly ambiguous film, writes David Parkinson.

Having been working as a prostitute to pay for her mother's medicare, Claire seeks to start a new life with a kindly taxi driver. However, she has been cheating her chillingly vicious pimp who demands recompense.

Approaching her duties with a clinicial detachment that is reflected in the glassily harsh dcor of her soulless flat (which itself seems cut off from the rest of New York), Claire is played with an authentic mixture of suppressed loathing, quiet self-worth and sheer terror by the excellent Katrin Cartlidge, whose determination to escape on her own terms underscores her emotional reserve. It's a courageous performance that challenges the viewer to deal with the uncomfortable consequences of dehumanising actions to which she's long since become immune.