Gabrielle Rose came to see Ruth as a woman who may use touch every day in her job but "who is out of touch with people and hasn't herself been touched for years."

The sense most deeply associated with human sensuality and intimacy, touch is at the center of THE FIVE SENSES, illuminated by the story of Ruth Seraph, the widowed massage therapist played by Gabrielle Rose. Rose is best known for her stirring performance as a distraught mother in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter. Here, she is also a mother, but this time one who watches in disbelief as her rebellious teenage daughter accidentally loses a client's 2 year-old. From the moment the child goes missing, Ruth's notions of what it means to be in touch and to truly touch another person are altered.

Touch of course is experienced through the skin, the body's single largest organ. What we experience as touch is actually electrical signals sent from the skin to the brain evoking a tickle at a light brush, pain with a sharp jab or wondrous ecstasy with a caress. Touch is the only one of the five senses human beings absolutely need to survive, for without it babies never fully develop and adults founder in depression. Studies show that infants given regular, nurturing touch grow twice as quickly as those denied the pleasures of a warm hug or massaging hand. In recent years, studies have demonstrated that regular touch can even have a healing effect on those with chronic and terminal illnesses.

Gabrielle Rose studied not only the emotional but the scientific side of touch to prepare for her role as Ruth, taking massage lessons and learning about the vast network of neuroreceptors under each person's skin. She came to see Ruth as a woman who may use touch every day in her job but "who is out of touch with people and hasn't herself been touched for years."

Continues Rose: "What particularly fascinated me about Ruth is that she can easily soothe the body of a complete stranger but no matter what she can't soothe her daughter. I was drawn to all the qualities of urban life Jeremy Podeswa explores through Ruth and the other characters: the loneliness, the craving for love and ultimately, finding the path back to faith and connection."

Remarks Jeremy Podeswa about Rose: "Gabrielle is a totally dedicated, smart and interesting actress who makes very unusual choices and brings huge humanity to the role of Ruth. Her part became more powerful and moving because she brings so much of herself to it. Everything she does feels intimate, personal and fresh."

Rose's character Ruth first begins to really reach out to Anna Miller, the mother of the girl lost by Ruth's daughter in the park. Molly Parker, who was struck by the ways in which all the characters in The Fives Senses begin to transform, plays Miller. "What I love about the film is that it's about hope, about not giving into the negative things we all fear may come true. Not everyone ends up happy but most of the characters move towards a place of healing," says Parker.

"Molly took a difficult role," notes Jeremy Podeswa, "but she avoids melodrama and she is so original and honest that you see the humanity in her character from the first second. The scenes between her and Gabrielle Rose are truly touching."

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