Red Rooms
Seen at the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival. Rewatched in August 2024.
One of the fundamental mysteries at the heart of “Red Rooms,” for much of its running time, is what is Kelly-Anne’s (Juliette Gariépy) motivation for needing to be in the courtroom for the trial of Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), on trial for the grisly murders of three teenage girls? She is not family. She is not press. She is a spectator, but to what end? This case has become a sensation that even brings women in from out of town to fawn over Chevalier. Spectator culture when it comes to true crime is at the heart of Pascal Plante’s film, and putting sensationalism over empathy is what leads to the worst parts of being a voyeur to people’s pain.
Kelly-Anne is a model who likes to take chances. Her work is provocative, and she is very much someone who is on the fringes of society, doing online gambling and involved in cryptocurrency. When we first meet her, she is getting up early to go to the courthouse, to make sure she gets in line early for the trial. We hear the opening arguments of both the prosecution and the defense, and the camera shows us the layout of the room before moving in on Kelly-Anne, in the back row of the spectators section, looking intently. Her ability to keep her thoughts, and feelings, to herself about what she’s witnessing is what makes her such a compelling main character. We are left wondering, “What is her interest in this case?”
One day, she meets a young woman, Clementine (Laurie Babin), who has come to Montreal from Quebec to watch the trial. She is an avid supporter of Chevalier, and- looking at his eyes- cannot imagine that he actually did it, even though much of the evidence- including the bodies being found at his former home- points to him being the killer. Based solely on his quiet, seemingly soulful vibe he’s given her from afar, she is utterly convinced he is innocent. While her “innocent until proven guilty” words when she calls in to a talk show about the subject is admirable, Clementine is in an unhealthy, parasocial relationship with a man she does not know. Even when the video of one of the murders is played in court, she distances it from her feelings about him. Clementine makes Kelly-Anne’s unknown motives all the more compelling; are they two people drawn to the killer for the same reasons? At a certain point, Clementine has to return, but Kelly-Anne remains, watching, and anticipating a major bomb to drop.
I mentioned the video of one of the murders. The title derives itself from the fact that the masked killer filmed his murders, and live-streamed them on the dark web. Two of the videos have surfaced; only one of the 13-year-old Camille’s death has not. Camille’s mother (Elisabeth Locas) is the parent of the victims we come to know most in the film; she is the mouthpiece of their pain, their rage and their horror at the way the case has brought out some of the worst spectacle in society. We may not have been in her position, but we understand her emotions, especially when it appears that Kelly-Anne’s interests become clearer. Her home computer network is impenetrable from hacking, and she has made a persona for herself that takes her to the dark heart of the internet. As she gets closer to the truth in the trial, her actions become more erratic, and all she has left is her motives to following the case, which is one of the most suspenseful sequences of the year, and it’s simply her playing online poker, and trying to win a bid for something online.
The ambiguity in Kelly-Anne’s character is what makes “Red Rooms” such a gripping thriller. As each scene goes by, we learn a bit more about the character, except what’s going on in her head. But Gariépy’s performance is not a passive one in the least; she is very active along the way, setting the stage for that sequence in the end which will throw into focus everything she’s done up to that point. Plante’s film takes us to the dark corners of humanity, but rather than lose our focus on empathy, we watch a character whose actions embody the purest expression of it. It’s a riveting film to watch unfold.
