Leaving Las Vegas

Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on a semiautobiographical novel Leaving Las Vegas novel by John OBrien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas. While there, he develops a relationship with a hardened prostitute played by Elisabeth Shue, which forms the center of the film. OBrien committed suicide two weeks after principal photography of the film began.

Ben Sanderson Cage is a Hollywood screenwriter whose alcoholism costs him his job, family, and friends. With nothing left to live for, he moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. As he drives drunkenly down the Las Vegas Strip, he nearly hits a woman, Sera Shue, on the crosswalk. Sera chastises him and walks away. Sera is a prostitute working for an abusive pimp, Yuri Butso Julian Sands, a Latvian immigrant. Polish mobsters are after Yuri, so he breaks his relationship with Sera in fear that the Poles may hurt her. Yuri is murdered offscreen shortly afterwards.On his second day in Las Vegas, Ben meets Sera, introduces himself and offers 500 to go to his room for an hour. Sera agrees but Ben does not want sex. Instead, they only talk and form a bizarre romantic relationship. They move in together shortly afterward. Ben instructs Sera to never ask him to stop drinking. Sera reciprocates and instructs Ben to not criticize her occupation. At first the two are stable as Ben is totally at ease with this Seras prostitution. However, each becomes frustrated with the others behavior. Sera begs Ben to see a doctor. Furious, Ben returns to their shared home with another prostitute Mariska Hargitay. Sera returns home and throws Ben out. Shortly afterward, while working, she is approached by three college students at the Excalibur hotel and casino. She initially rejects their offer by stating that she only dates one at a time, but eventually acquiesces when she is offered an increased price. When she enters their hotel room, the college students change the deal and request anal sex, which Sera refuses. When she attempts to leave, she is brutally attacked and raped as one of the college students films the entire event on a video camera. The next morning, Sera returns with injuries that make her occupation obvious, resulting in her eviction. She then receives a call from Ben, who is on his deathbed. Sera visits Ben and he dies while they make love. His last word is wow. In t

Source: Wikipedia