Delusion

The story unfolds in the present, reflecting current urban anxieties: isolation, paranoia, and the fragile line between reality and fantasy. Everyday routines—diaries, casual encounters, and investigative work—drive the tension. The time setting emphasizes immediacy and psychological unease in a modern city.

Set in a contemporary cityscape centered on a lonely protagonist's apartment and surrounding neighborhoods. The film moves through her home, the nearby stairwell conversations with neighbors, and encounters that shift between mundane life and unsettling episodes. The intertwined narratives also visit a psychologist's clinic and law enforcement spaces, underscoring a modern urban atmosphere.

🌀 Delusion

Delusion drives the plot as characters confuse diary-inspired fantasies with real events. The heroine's longing for love blends with amnesia-like episodes and sleepwalking, triggering a loop of unreliability. As three narratives intersect, the boundary between what's real and imagined becomes increasingly unstable.

🧠 Loneliness

Loneliness is the quiet engine of paranoia, pushing the characters toward intrapsychic misreadings and vague threats. The diary becomes a substitute for connection, and the absence of trusted relationships intensifies the sense of being watched. The film uses solitary spaces—apartments and empty streets—to heighten unease.

🔀 Reality vs Illusion

Reality and illusion spiral into each other as Lin Zichen's writing and Li Wei's investigation pull the threads together. The audience is asked to question what is genuine as clues from delusional patients appear in unexpected places. The resolution reveals a larger psychological experiment behind both fiction and crime.

🧭 Interconnection

Three lives—psychologist, writer, and detective—move toward a shared truth, showing how personal narratives shape collective reality. The film uses parallel storylines to illustrate how imagination, diagnosis, and investigation influence one another. The convergence exposes how perception governs truth.