Thayer says, "She's making up a story because she's trying to figure out what he wants... She understands that what he wants is an exchange of intimacy. The problem is that when she volunteers, she lays a trap for herself." McGowan adds, "She's trying to figure out the situation and what he's about. Initially her big thing was to get it over with."

The voice of Miriam's mother is so relentless that, in one scene, Miriam must turn her radio up to deafening levels on an effort to drown it out. After Miriam confesses to having been molested by her mother, Scott spends the night. In the morning she is back in her shell but is clearly touched by this man and what has happened. As he leaves, Miriam tells him her real name, the only thing apart from sex and a fantasy she has to offer. "She's someone who's been killed in a variety of levels throughout her life," McGowan says. "I think it was beautiful that she was so affected by this guy. It was a little chink in her armor."

In the course of a single night, Miriam realizes that her life is worth more than the $65 price tag she puts on it. Seed is remarkable not only as a psychological case study of a hooker who has been molested by her mother during adolescence but also as a deconstruction of the sleazy allure of prostitution.

• Rose wears a platinum blonde wig for the role of Miriam.