WHITE ROOM

NEW 4K RESTORATION

By Patricia ROZEMA

FILM ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL - as SALES

Fantasy - Completed 1990


    • Year of production
    • 1990
    • Genres
    • Fantasy, Drama
    • Countries
    • CANADA
    • Duration
    • 110 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Patricia ROZEMA
    • Synopsis
    • Patricia Rozema’s second feature White Room (1990) with Sheila McCarthy, Margot Kidder and Kate Nelligan, is a darker and more ambitious in scope (a “journey through genres”) than I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing but pursued similar themes of the artist in conflict with public expectations and critical formulas, and further developed Rozema's characteristically rich visual style.

      This "Grim Fairy Tale" follows the journey of an aspiring young writer, Norman Gentle (Maurice Godin), on his quest for "honour, action and, of course, love." Along the way to self expression, he encounters three very different women. One night, benignly prowling the backyards of an urban neighborhood, he witnesses the savage murder and rape of a woman who lives in a large glass house. With the help of a shallow but amusing street performer, Zelda (Sheila McCarthy), he discovers that the victim was the popular singer/poet Madelaine X (Margot Kidder). At her funeral he meets a beautiful and strange woman, Jane (Kate Nelligan) with whom he falls deeply in love. Norm becomes obsessed with a mysterious room that Jane slips into every night. He begins to suspect a bizarre link between Jane and the murdered Madelaine X. This strange, sometimes warm, sometimes harrowing tale has two endings: one tragic, one euphoric, both essential.