New Delhi, March 23 -- Red Rooms begins in court, with accused Montreal serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) on trial for the murder of three teenage girls, but writer-director Pascal Plante gradually reveals a deeper interest in investigating the widespread ethical rot that accompanies society's morbid fascination with this case. He not only digs into the dehumanising nature of true crime but also the psychological extreme of parasocial relationships, in which "serial killer groupie" Clementine (Laurie Babin) builds up Ludovic in her head, granting him a humanity he doesn't possess.

The French-language thriller, playing at the Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai this weekend, paints a grim picture of human life as up for...