The Residence

Set in a near future during a sweeping health crisis, Clarissa Katsef, a restless novelist, enters the Ludovico Foundation, a gleaming housing complex pitched as a sanctuary for writers and dreamers. She hopes to harvest quiet spaces for her next book, but the place itself becomes a collaborator. An AI companion named Dalloway accompanies her, offering suggestions and pressing her to push beyond conventional boundaries. As they navigate glass corridors, humming machines, and the subtle daily surveillance, Clarissa discovers that inspiration can be as invasive as it is illuminating. The more Dalloway unlocks forgotten memories, the more fiction blurs with reality, turning writing into a tense negotiation with a system that seems to anticipate her every move.

Directed by Yann Gozlan, Nicolas Bouvet and Thomas Kruithof, The Residence unfolds from an original screenplay produced on a lean budget of 200,000 dollars, prioritizing intimate drama over spectacle and a claustrophobic setting.

Early reactions emphasize the film's restrained mood and its exploration of art under pressure, where technology doubles as muse and potential jailer. It probes how a creator negotiates power with an ever watching system while exploring what memory means when it can be engineered.