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Pascal Plante (Canada, 1988) debuted with
Les Faux Tatouages/ Fake Tattoos (2017), followed by
Nadia Butterfly (2020).
Les Chambres Rouges/ The Red Rooms (2023) is a
cryptic psychological thriller.
It is not about the murderer, it's about a
loner, dislocated by the internet age, who becomes fascinated by the murderer
to the point of desiring to feel like one of his victims.
At the same time, she is a cunning hacker and the "detective" who condemns him.
She is half a sick psycho and half a heroic avenger.
We never learn much about her story. She remains hidden in her loneliness.
A young woman, Kelly-Anne, walks into the courtroom where the high-profile trial of a killer, Ludovic, is about to begin.
The prosecutor tells the jury that Ludovic has raped, murdered and dismembered three teenage girls
(Kim, Justine and Camille),
and then broadcast the gruesome murders live on a commercial internet site known as a "red room"; murders turned into online business.
The accused listens calmly inside a glass cage.
The evidence against Ludovic is overwhelming but he pleads not guilty and his
defense lawyer describes him as a model citizen.
The videos were found on Ludovic's computer but the lawyer claims that they were placed on his computer by a hacker.
The prosecutor argues that those videos were lucrative, but there is no evidence
that Ludovic got rich.
The corpses have been found buried in the backyard of the place where Chevalier lived at the time, but of course someone else could have buried them there.
The young woman in the audience stares at Ludovic transfixed. Outside the
reporters are eagerly waiting for news.
They enjoy interviewing a girl, Clementine, who is a fan of Ludovic, convinced that he has been framed and is innocent.
At home she expertly manages her life on a computer.
The following morning, Kelly-Anne sleeps on the sidewalk and is woken up by Clementine: they are both early in front of the courtroom to be sure of getting inside.
Clementine has a alternative explanations for all the evidence collected against Ludovic.
During a lunch break,
Kelly-Anne pulls out her smartphone and makes enough money
from online gambling to pay for their lunch.
The mother of one of the victims curses the fans that gather online to defend Ludovic. A small cult has grown of "groupies" like Clementine.
Kelly-Anne at home morbidly browses the internet for information about the case
as if she wanted to carry out her own investigation
(under the moniker "Lady of Shalott", a reference to Tennyson's poem about a cursed woman living on an island).
By the speed with which she jumps from one application to another, we gather that she is a hacker.
She also works as a fashion model, with photographers taking thousands of pictures of her.
She runs into Clementine, who seems homeless and hungry, and invites her to her nice apartment.
Clementine is a poor woman from a provincial town: she hitchhiked to attend the trial and lives in a homeless shelter.
The two are very different kinds: Clementine can only speak about mundane things, Kelly-Anne is proficient in computer technology.
Clementine gets angry when she hears people on television taking for granted that Ludovic is the killer and phones the show to say, live, what she thinks.
The show's host recommends that she sees a psychologist.
Kelly-Anne doesn't take sides. She is mostly silent while Clementine launches in passionate harangues against the prosecutor.
Kelly-Anne shows Clementine how she gambles online, winning with a mix of statistics and psychology.
When the court is in session, they sleep on the sidewalk in front of the courtroom to be first in line.
The killer made videos of two murders. The videos are shown only to the jury.
Clementine is disappointed that the audience is not allowed to see the incriminating videos, but Kelly-Anne reveals that she has illegal copies of the videos.
They go back to Kelly-Anne's apartment and watch them together.
We hear the screams of the victims and the sound of a chainsaw.
The killer is wearing a balaclava so his face is not clearly visible but at one
point he stares directly into the camera and he looks very much like Ludovic.
Clementine cries. She is so depressed to have seen proof that Ludovic is the killer that she decides to return home. Before leaving, Clementine asks Kelly-Anne why she is following the case. Kelly-Anne doesn't reply. We see her staring silently in the courtroom. At home she continues her private investigation: she contacts a shady group that wants to be paid in bitcoin, but we are not told for what.
One day a reporter takes a picture of her. That is enough for a client to cancel a contract.
Kelly-Anne almost cries.
A defiant Kelly-Anne not only returns to court but even dresses
like one of the victims, Camille, wears a wig, a denture and contact lenses to look like the girl. The mother of the victim, sitting in the front row, is the first one to notice her and to call security. It is Ludovic's birthday.
While she is being escorted out by two security guards, he looks at her and waves at her. It's the first time that he showed any interest in the proceedings.
That stunt ruins her modeling career: her agent doesn't want any association with her anymore.
She contacts again the mysterious person who wants to be paid in bitcoin and is given instructions for an auction of something.
She enters the auction on the computer (always as
Lady of Shalott)
and starts bidding. Now we see what she's trying to buy: the video of Camille, the only video that has never been found.
In parallel she plays poker to make the money she needs for the auction.
Kelly-Anne succeeds and obtains the video.
Realizing that her virtual assistant has recorded her actions, Kelly-Anne throws the device in the blender.
Kelly-Anne puts on a headset and watches the video of Camille.
She then turns herself into Camille again and walks out.
She drives to Camille's house, disables the surveillance cameras,
disables the front door's lock and walks into the house.
She finds Camille's bedroom and takes selfies sitting on her bed.
Before leaving, she drops the video in the master bedroom where the mother is asleep.
We learn that the video proves Ludovic's guilt beyond any reasonable doubt.
Clementine is interviewed on television, confessing her past infatuation.
(Copyright © 2024 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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