White Room (1990)

From the post-modern satire of its opening sequence to its tragic-euphoric double ending, Patricia Rozema's second feature WHITE ROOM, a harrowing fairy tale, is as much about the consequences of naive romanticism as it in about our uniquely modern obsession with celebrity. In this "journey through genres", WHITE ROOM centres on would-be writer Norman (Maurice Godin), a directionless soul who, afflicted with writer's block, takes to wandering the suburban boulevards at night and peeping on his neighbours - especially one "Madeline X" (Margot Kidder) - a famous singer who is murdered one night as the horrified Norman watches, too stunned to intervene. Overcome with guilt, Norman attends her public memorial, where he meets an enigmatic woman (Kate Nelligan) with unexplained connections to Madelaine X. He follows her home to see her slip into a secret room every night. Set in the cultural landscape of bohemian Toronto at the dawn of the '90s, WHITE ROOM explores the incompatibility of the fragile openness needed to create art and the impossibly thick skin required to sell it.