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A French apartment building's natural order is disrupted by a young, melodramatic touring actress in The Idol, the third film from director Samantha Lang. Sarah (Leelee Sobieski) moves into an apartment that had been unoccupied for quite some time and begins tormenting her neighbors with frequent sessions of rambunctious lovemaking with her lover Phillippe (Jalil Lespert). Directly across the hall from Sarah's apartment lives an elderly Chinese man named Zao (James Hong), whom Sarah recognizes as a kindred soul and possible confidant. After inviting the old man into her apartment, she boldly opens her soul to him and reveals her intentions of committing suicide as a means of creating a scandal and exacting revenge against her lover, who also happens to be the husband of the actress that Sarah is an understudy for. Zao, rather than attempting to dissuade the young woman from following through with her vow, asks that he be allowed to cook for her until she commits the deed. Sarah and Zao thus begin a strangely unique friendship as they approach what appears to be the final chapter of their respective lives. The Idol was included in 2002 Locarno International Film Festival.