First Name: Carmen

Set in a contemporary late 20th-century milieu, the story moves through modern urban spaces and media-making dynamics. A film-within-the-film project signals a period when cinema and video coexist as tools of art and deceit. The mood blends live music, theatrical rehearsal, and everyday crime in a present-day setting.

The film unfolds across a sunlit coastal city and its vicinity, shifting between the open harbor and intimate interiors like a seaside apartment. The sanitarium where Uncle Jeannot lives provides a claustrophobic counterpoint to the bright public spaces, framing the characters’ masks and fantasies. Settings switch between a seaside locale, a hotel where plans unfold, and the bank where the heist kicks off.

💔 Love and Betrayal

Carmen's romance with Joseph drives the narrative and blurs loyalties. She uses affection as a weapon, testing who stays loyal and who folds under pressure. The entangled relationship intensifies the collision between desire and crime, culminating in a morally ambiguous fallout.

🎥 Art and Crime

The gang funds its scheme through a fake film directed by Uncle Jeannot, turning a robber into a performance. The string quartet and on-camera playfulness weave cinema into the heist, making art feel like cover for violence. The line between creativity and exploitation grows increasingly unstable.

⚖️ Power and Exploitation

Carmen's control over others and Joseph's vulnerability reveal a dynamic of manipulation and coercion. The gang's schemes expose moral rot beneath glamorous surfaces, challenging notions of justice. Public defense and moral support offer glimmers of fairness, yet outcomes remain morally complex.

🌅 Daybreak

The finale pivots on the dawn, separating innocence and guilt in a charged moment. Arrest, escape, and a courtroom confrontation cast doubt on what constitutes justice when the day begins anew. The ending leaves the future open, wrapped in a poetic sense of dawn and ambiguity.