Synopsis

Belfast newspaper columnist Dan Starkey is trying to repair his marriage after an affair when the young woman involved is found murdered. Her cryptic final words draw him into a dangerous investigation involving paramilitaries, political ambition, kidnapping, and a compromising audio recording. As the Northern Irish peace process provides a tense backdrop, Starkey must uncover the truth before he becomes the next casualty.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film adapts Colin Bateman's 1995 debut novel, with Bateman also writing the screenplay.

• It was filmed entirely in Northern Ireland, principally in Belfast, at a time when security concerns had made local feature production difficult. The filmmakers promoted it as the first full-length feature made exclusively in the region.

• The production was backed by BBC Films, Scala, Winchester Films, IMA Films, and arts-council funding. It also contributed substantially to Belfast's production economy and employed a large number of Northern Irish crew members.

• Its Belfast gala premiere in September 1998 was staged as a charity event and was treated as an important cultural occasion for the city.

• The title's wordplay is echoed by the film's central audio clue: what sounds like "divorce Jack" ultimately points toward the composer Antonin Dvorak.

• The film received the Critics' Award and the Directors' Week Best Screenplay award at the Fantasporto festival.