DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

 

 

While internet is a great means of research and communication, recent news events too often remind us that it can also be a vector of real danger.

 

Intrusion into the privacy of others has become simple, exciting, even fascinating. Our neighbor is now on the other side of the screen, should he be thousands of miles away, or right nearby. A 'rear window' on internet, but a pernicious one.

Indeed, no society, no individual can claim to have control over the web, which expands at an exponential pace. This world, free of regulations, limits and restrictions, and accessible to all, is an open territory for the most perverse, violent and Machiavellian actions.

 

Pseudonym is a psychological thriller rooted in this reality, and stages the potential drifting of a seemingly harmless virtual meeting.

With this film, I wished to explore the framework of a web-cam and show the reality that exists within and beyond this frame-work, thus showing what the viewer actually beholds. A necessary mise en abyme, an ordinary voyeurism which raises the following question: Are we really sure not to be seen, watched and spied back on, without knowing it ?

Alex's character, an average Joe wrapped up in his everyday life, indulges in meeting a young woman on internet one night, to spice up a monotonous life a little. On the surface, this quite common starting point looks like a chapter of a romance novel.

 

I placed the plot in the heart of Paris, but in an abstract way, so as to isolate the main character, for instance when he walks the empty streets of the capital. It is a metaphor for a spider's web - like that of internet- where the trapped prey throws itself into the threads woven by its predator.

 

Pseudonym is, by no means, meant to be sanctimonious. It only sends a warning. For here, the predator's actions are not motivated by greed, payback, racism, etc. No. I wanted to explore a devastating violence beyond comprehension, which can in no way be justified. A random violence linked to extreme perversion and overwhelming power.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                    Thierry Sebban