Consequences of a twisted love

In Olivier Assayas’ stylish thriller “Boarding Gate,” the plot may be murky, but actress Asia Argento is a clear and commanding force throughout.

Argento’s Sandra is a slinky, darkly seductive former prostitute who visits an ex-lover, Miles (Michael Madsen), in his Paris office. Although Miles had hired Sandra to cement some deals with his investment company that ensnared her in some very nasty sex scenes, she did it out of love for him. She may well still love him but is beginning to realize that Miles has always been interested in her only for her kinky sexual skills. This new awareness will have its consequences, and eventually Sandra is sent to Hong Kong by her current employer, Lester (Carl Ng), a drug smuggler using an import-export business as a front.

“Boarding Gate” is held together by Argento’s ability to reveal Sandra as vulnerable, intelligent, reflective and even conscience-stricken, despite her nervy personality and raw, high-risk existence. The chemistry between the sensual, wanton Sandra and the beefy middle-aged Miles is intense, and Argento and Madsen possess the requisite strong physical presence to make their mutual attraction palpable.

As captivating a character as Sandra is, the film’s inscrutability undercuts Argento’s impassioned portrayal. A little more clarity in the unfolding of an exceedingly convoluted plot would mean less distractions; at any given moment it’s hard to say with any certainty what’s really going on or what connection one character or event has to another.

If “Boarding Gate” is not as satisfying as many of the notable films -- among them “Les Destinees Sentimentales” and “Irma Vep” -- that have made Assayas a major director in the last 20 years, it exudes his usual confidence, daring and visual panache. Assayas is terrific at directing intimate encounters and illuminating the ever-shifting emotions and needs between two individuals. Argento’s Sandra strikes sparks with just about everybody she deals with.

“Boarding Gate” is great-looking, sweeping the viewer from a Paris so impersonal in its commercial and industrial settings as to be unidentifiable to an unmistakable Hong Kong, glamorous, bustling and endlessly intriguing.

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“Boarding Gate.” MPAA rating: R for violence, sexual content, language and some drug material. Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. (323) 848-3500.