Reviewed by Lorne Nudel
A young girl is the sole witness to a serial killing in this moody thriller
“Murderer still on the run!” reads the headline, but it’s the victim who is running from the handsome and relaxed murderer in this atmospheric tribute to Alfred Hitchcock by Director Alban Delachenal.
Filmed in Geneva, Switzerland, this elegantly staged piece depicts a crowd so focused on newspaper reports that they neglect to see what is going on in their midst. With the exception of one little girl who tries in vain to raise the alarm, all are oblivious.
The story is about blindness. A murderer kills a woman but nobody sees him. We are obsessed by the media and we can’t see the real danger.
– Alban Delachenal
The rose motif, suggesting both beauty and danger, is played to strong effect. In this world, one is either in possession of a rose and bound up in murder, or is an outsider reading about it in the news.
In a clear nod to Hitchcock and the role of the impotent witness, the name of the newspaper itself is the Rear Window Journal.
In Rose, Delachenal has created real tension, juxtaposing an impassive killer (played by Henrik Nyberg), closing inexorably upon his prey (Rebecca Welling), with a distracted crowd, unaware of the peril so close by.
Finally, as the killer departs to stalk a new quarry, his impassive gaze filled with menace, so too does the little girl, now with a rose in her hand, and we are left to wonder when her time will come.