The Green Room

Ten years after the end of World War I, Julien Davenne works as an editor at The Globe in a small French town, specializing in funeral announcements. The thought of death haunts him and shapes his routines. He keeps the memory of his wife Julie close, though she died eleven years earlier.

During a thunderstorm, a fire destroys the green room, and Davenne saves only pictures and portraits of his wife. The loss sharpens his obsession with preserving memory and the past. The room becomes a symbol of what he clings to.

In the cemetery, Davenne discovers an abandoned chapel in ruins and decides to consecrate it to all the cemetery’s dead. He transforms the space into a forest of lighted candles and hangs photos of the people he treasured. The project marks a turning point in his life.

To keep the chapel, Davenne calls Cecilia, a young secretary from the auction house that recovered Julie’s ring. Cecilia’s presence begins to affect him as they interact around the chapel and Julie’s memory. Their initial contact grows as Massigny’s death lingers in the background.

When Paul Massigny dies, Davenne’s former best friend is no longer in his life, and the film suggests that Massigny betrayed him in the past, without specifying the betrayal. The death shifts the dynamics around Davenne and Cecilia. The town’s memories and past loyalties add tension to the growing friendship.

Davenne visits Cecilia at her home and finds the living room filled with Massigny’s pictures. He does not ask for explanations and leaves abruptly, overwhelmed by what he sees. The moment deepens the undercurrent of unresolved history between them.

At the chapel, Cecilia reveals she was Massigny’s lover and still loves him. She asks that Massigny be represented by a candle on the altar. Davenne rebuffs her, and she breaks off the relationship, leaving him alone with his grief.

Rebuffed, Davenne locks himself away at home, refusing to eat, to see the doctor, or to talk to anyone. His life narrows to ritual and memory, cutting him off from the living. The isolation isolates him further from Cecilia and the city.

The Globe’s managing editor suggests that Cecilia write Davenne a letter to reach him. The idea is to pierce his isolation and reawaken his buried emotions. The plan shows how memory and communication become tools for healing.

Cecilia writes a letter to Julien declaring her love, recognizing that being loved by him would be a profound sacrifice. She grapples with the possibility that his response may never come. The letter becomes a catalyst for the final emotional turn.

Having forgiven Massigny in spirit, Davenne joins Cecilia in the chapel, but he is weakened and collapses to the ground. The act seems to close a chapter of his life as he succumbs to his frailties. Cecilia remains at the altar, witnessing the end of an era of his obsessions.

Cecilia completes the work, dedicating one last candle to Julien Davenne. She ensures his memory endures within the candlelit sanctuary he built. The chapel stands as a testament to love, loss, and the power of memory.