"You can't blame the young for believing in something except money," says Rachel Griffith's sage prostitute, Bettina, to Om Puri's angst-ridden taxi driver, Parvez, as the two outsiders seek solace in each other from the confusing, harsh world of northern England.

Parvez is bemoaning his son, Farid's, sudden conversion to Islam; a conversion that has seen this promising student abandon his studies, sell his belongings and ditch his white fiancee, the daughter of a senior police officer ("Farid told my father he was the only pig he'd ever wanted to eat").

Farid's fanaticism shatters the comfortable, if unsatisfying, equilibrium of Parvez's life. Until now he's turned a blind eye to racism in a bid for acceptance in Britain and never questions his morality. Parvez enjoys Bettina's company without judging her and sets up Stellan Skarsgard's German businessmen with a friend. However, his son's virulent hatred of a "society soaked in sex", his rage at racism and his desire for "belief, purity, belonging to the past" tip him into a moral maelstrom.

Hanif Kureishi has made a career, as both novelist and screenwriter, from examining the cultural complexities and problems of the British Asian community and/or middle-aged men. In Parvez, he creates a believably flawed character - a compassionate man whose actions might be unsavoury, were they not carried out with such a naive good will. Puri delivers an astounding performance, playing a father wracked by doubt and despair while the Australian Griffiths is completely convincing as a Bradford "tart".

An intelligent, thought-provoking film which doesn't offer any answers, but raises several challenging, important questions.