Alan James (Rip Torn) is a legendary producer from the heyday of Memphis Soul. He now lives in well-earned comfort with his beautiful and much younger lover, Laura, a Muscovite living in the foreign world of Memphis and spending much of her time with their small child. Alan also has an adult son, Michael, with whom he has a difficult relationship, fired by disappointment, anger and bitterness.

Without warning, Michael returns home after several years' absence. Initially his hostility towards Laura is incandescent, but soon a complex relationship develops between the pair. Michael's entry into Laura's insular world holds up a mirror, revealing her constrained life and sublimated desires. His presence unhinges the ordered world in which she lives. In the bars and bedrooms of Memphis, a love triangle forms, illuminating the hearts and souls of these entangled lives.

Ira Sachs (MIFF 96 guest; The Delta) delivers a perfectly tuned drama of love and desire, and a great feel for the city of soul (Tennessee Williams' steamy South). Forty Shades of Blue screened at Berlin and Sundance, collecting the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.