PSEUDONYM

France, 2014, 74 minutes, Colour.
Thierry Sebbban, Perrine Tourneux, Igor Skrebin, Simon Abkarian.
Directed by Thierry Sebban.

Pseudonym is a brief French thriller, a drama with psychological overtones.

The basic plot is fairly straightforward. A divorced businessman is away from his family, communicates lovingly with his daughters by Skype, clashes with his former wife, who seems to have picked up a message that he sent through the Internet, concerning a dinner appointment later that night.

In his hotel room, he makes the Internet contact with a call girl, he preparing a dinner in his room, she having a dinner in her room, and their having a conversation, flirtatious at first, more explicitly sexual, stripping and nudity on her part. She is not exactly the picture that appeared on the website but she makes that more tantalising for the businessman. The businessman is played by the director who also co-wrote the script.

The audience sees some thugs come into a room, there is an issue of money and payment for the woman or, and the Internet connection cut off. The man is desperate, and he had just given his address to the young woman urging her to come to him. After discussions with the thug, she agrees to go, and communicates again with the man. However, she is knocked unconscious, the thug looks out the window and finds the businessman in a building across the way and proceeds to go there.

In the meantime, the young woman goes to a bar, drinks, dancers, loses herself in frenzy.

The rest of the film is the businessman being overcome by two thugs, taken away to an isolated place which looks like a warehouse or a parking lot, is tortured, his ear cut off. And interconnect Internet connection is made with the wealthy boss who is in control and wants information from the businessman. When one of the thugs is distracted by young boy calling in, the businessman takes advantage of surprise, escapes, runs through the building, out into the street, is able to put his legs through the cuff connections and become freer. He uses quite some ingenuity in eluding his pursuers. The boss is very angry and demanding of the thugs.

Just as the businessman seems to be taken again, the film ends.

The film serves as a drama, touches of sexuality, touches of violence and torture, and a cautionary tale.