Judah Rosenthal
Dr. Judah Rosenthal is an eye doctor involved with a mistress who has become a definitely liability. He arranges with his shady brother to have the mistress killed which immediately sends him into a moral abyss from which he climbs surprisingly quickly.
Cliff Stern
Cliff is a documentary filmmaker whose subjects are not exactly the stuff of PBS success. He is hired by his brother-in-law, Lester, to make a documentary that fulfills all of Lester’s narcissistic neediness. Cliff has too much integrity and that integrity also extends to not pushing his desire for the associate producer of the film.
Dolores Paley
Dolores is Judah’s mistress. Interestingly, considering her murder is the center of the film’s philosophical examination of the question of the existence of morality in the universe, Dolores is presented as the most unpleasant character in the film, thus lending more sympathy to her murderer than might be expected.
Lester
Lester is a pompous, self-centered, narcissistic, philandering television producer who only hires Cliff as a favor to his sister. He rejects the first cut of the documentary Cliff makes because it reveal just how pompous he is. Cliff takes the firing very well. But then Lester does something that utterly devastates him.
Halley Reed
Cliff and his wife have not had sex for a year. He is attracted to Halley and they have a good time. Then she leave for England for four months. When she returns, it is with Lester who has been in England and swept her off her feet.
Jack Rosenthal
Jack is Judah’s brother. Although the detail remain murky, he deals with a level of society much seamier than his brother. He hires the person who kills Dolores and makes it look like a burglary gone bad.
Ben
The conscience of the film belongs Ben. He is a rabbi and spiritual adviser to Judah, but he is also a patient of Judah’s who is going blind.
