Rivette-regular Nathalie Richard, introduced to a wider U.S. audience last year as the impish costume designer in Irma Vep, assays her first English-language performance as the star of David Barker's Afraid of Everything. An intense psychological drama, Barker's first feature depicts the repressed desires and unspoken anguish that threaten to drive one New York couple over the edge.

Richard plays Anne, an actress who hasn't left her loft since losing a leg in an accident a year back. Anne's architect husband Donnie, won't confront her about her problems and upset the fragile balance that maintains their relationship. Enter Iris, Anne's 18-year-old Israeli half-sister, a free spirit who is particularly curious about how the accident has affected Donnie sexually.

"The social and sexual foundations of this marriage have broken down and the household is in crisis," says Barker. "Iris exposes the twisted logic Anne and Donnie are hiding behind and flushes them into the open."

Barker spent the first part of the '90s working with early Godard collaborator Jean-Pierre Gorin (Tout Va Bien) on a critical volume and unrealized film and then assisted experimental filmmaker Leslie Thornton on her feature, The Great Invisible. In 1994 he co-founded Drift Releasing (which later changed its name to Noon Pictures) with Chris Hoover and distributed Godard's Germany Year 90 Nine Zero. Barker left Noon last year and wrote Afraid with Richard in mind. Hoover, who's worked on such films as Swoon and Postcards from America, produced with private equity investment.

Influenced by the films of D.P. John Alton, Barker says Alton's theories of dramatic shot construction are played out in his film's visual structure. "The [35mm] black-and-white shot structures we designed control the eye and direct its focus from light to dark -- something you can't do as effectively with color," says Barker. Cameras rolled December 1 for a two-week shoot; all rights are available.

Cast: Nathalie Richard, Daniel Aukin, Sarah Adler. Crew: Producer, Chris Hoover; Screenwriter/ Director, David Barker; Cinematographer, Deborah Lewis; Production Designer, Bernhard Blythe; Prosthetics, Janet Biggs, Marita Dorsch. Contact: Chris Hoover, Noon Pictures, 611 Broadway, Suite 742, NY, NY 10012. Tel: (212) 254-4118, Fax: (212) 254-3154.

Afraid of Everything - David Barker
Chutney Popcorn - Nisha Ganatra
Dark Harbor - Adam Coleman Howard
Fear of Fiction - Charlie Ahearn
The History of Luminous Motion - Bette Gordon
Judy Berlin - Eric Mendelsohn
The Last Big Attraction - T. Hopwood DePree
Me and Will - Sherrie Rose and Melissa Behr
Mute Love - Patrice Mallard
Origin of the Species - Andres Heinz
The Two Ninas - Neil Turitz