A high-profile trial, bringing a chilling murderer to justice, fascinate the population. A model becomes obsessed with the trial, attending the hearings every day she can.
Written and directed by Pascal Plante, Red Rooms takes the obsession with true crime and puts it in the courtroom and in the lives of a few people obsessed with a specific case, showing that killer fans and those who basically worship them put their lives on the line for their favorite criminal. In this case, the criminal is a brutal killer of teenagers, and the film does not shy away from discussing the details of his crimes. Here, some of this is done in the courtroom and some of it in discussions, however brutal the story is, the visuals are not as brutal, rather focusing on the lead’s reactions to it all. The writing and direction here are meticulous and calculated, bringing elements in and out exactly at the right time, adding and removing people as needed, not spending any time where it is not needed but still building characters and a story that fascinate. Killer groupies are a hard group for most to connect with but here they are shown as quite human, even in their obsession.
The cast here is perfect. Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne is charismatic and charming, a bit reserved even at first. As the film advances and Kelly-Anne’s obsession deepens, Gariépy’s performance plays along and gives a performance that becomes chilling, showing why she is the lead and bringing the viewer in, never letting go of their attention. She is the center of the story and the star of the film, and she makes sure everyone knows it with the perfect performance. Playing a young woman Kelly-Anne meets at the trial, Laurie Babin as Clementine gives a slightly unhinged and great presence on screen, letting the viewer guess if she is good or evil or just completely disturbed. She is a good balance to Gariépy. The cast in general is great here, but Gariépy and Babin are the stars.
The film here also looks very good with the coldness of the court room coming through in the decor but also in the lighting and the framing of the scenes. The warmth of home is represented in Kelly-Anne’s luxury, yet small, apartment with a more colorful lighting and a closer framing of the scenes, and as the film progresses, the colors start to change and we get to the red of obsession, passion, murder. The calculation of all of these elements and their planning had to be done with the whole crew to get everything to come together for the cinematography by Vincent Biron to capture it all just right.
The film here is close to perfection with a few sequences, like the photoshoot, feeling a bit out of place and stealing time from the better parts of the film. However, these are easy to bypass and get back into the disturbing factor of it all. The film is not particularly something to enjoy so much as something to appreciate as it is incredibly well-made, with a strong script, strong direction, and almost perfect performances throughout. The few scenes that don’t work as well can easily be forgotten to focus more on what works so well. This is a solid film that explores the obsessive side of people who love to follow murder trials and have favorite killers like some have favorite pop stars they know everything about. The story here is more about the effect of the killer and his crimes on one woman than it is about the killer himself and it works fantastically well this way. It feels fresh, it feels new, it feels like it was done with passion for the characters and their stories as well as for filmmaking.