2 months ago
In “Red Rooms,” Pascal Plante didn’t want to show definitive images of convulsive killings. He wanted to talk astir them instead.
“During nan pandemic, we person been spending each this clip successful beforehand of our screens, consuming convulsive images successful a very detached way. Realizing that led maine to nan acheronian web, basically,” he tells Variety.
His “sort of cyber thriller and benignant of courtroom drama” – world premiering astatine Karlovy Vary Film Festival earlier opening Canada’s genre fest Fantasia – revolves astir nan high-profile proceedings of Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), accused of murdering teenage girls and trading videos of his exploits.
“It was very deliberate not to show it. I person been listening to crime-related podcasts and they consciousness moreover creepier. This way, nan assemblage almost wants to spot them. In a weird, morbid way,” he says.
“This movie is astir nan psychological consequences of utmost violence. I really don’t want it to beryllium perceived only arsenic controversial, but it tin make you very uncomfortable.”
Plante wanted to return a person look astatine group – particularly women – who are attracted to darkness.
“It’s specified a wide phenomenon. Maybe it has thing to do pinch their upbringing? With that ‘bad boy’ image pushed to nan extreme, pinch a belief that ‘with my emotion and understanding, I tin alteration him?’,” he wonders.
“Charles Manson kept receiving 20,000 letters a twelvemonth until he died, including matrimony proposals. We still glamorize these killers, truthful nan extremity was to flip that.”
Still, tech-savvy Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) is not a emblematic groupie. While she obsessively follows nan proceedings and moreover befriends different 1 of Chevalier’s “fans,” she besides knows wherever to look for nan missing video of a murdered 13-year-old.
“We didn’t want a 2.0 type of Lisbeth Salander,” stresses Plante, mentioning nan iconic “Millennium Trilogy” heroine.
“We were mostly inspired by witches. Here, hacking is modern witchcraft. It’s ambiguous whether she is simply a supervillain aliases a superhero. I didn’t want to explanation her, but location is this word ‘hybristophilia’ [sexual liking successful those who perpetrate crimes]. She is for illustration Bonnie, erstwhile Clyde pulls retired his gun. She is attracted to that.”
Admitting location is simply a “dash of Fincher” successful nan story, he besides mentions Austrian auteur Michael Haneke.
“There is this thrilling play betwixt nan filmmaker and his assemblage successful ‘Funny Games.’ We binge-watch truthful galore true-crime shows astir serial killers aliases investigations these days, but location is different constituent to this triangle: nan group who are watching, and location are galore of them.”
While trying to make his movie look authentic, Plante besides kept his region “in a sane way,” he notes.
“We spot this communicative done Kelly-Anne’s constituent of view. At first, she conscionable coldly observes everything, but she past dives into fantasy. It’s true-crime meets genre cinema, which I deliberation is really thriving correct now. It has nan champion audience. For them, erstwhile it’s weird, it’s good.”
Or erstwhile it’s ambiguous.
“All these killers, they’ve had capable attraction already. There are capable group analyzing their background. I americium against this Freudian conception of explaining everything. When personification asks astir nan guidelines of evil, it’s overmuch much disturbing if nan reply is: ‘I don’t know’.”
“Red Rooms” was produced by Dominique Dussault for Nemesis Films.
