WILDE’S ROOM
Director Xue Ma
Genre Drama
Location Paris
Language Chinese, French
Running time 90 minutes
Stage of production in post production
Country of production South Korea, France
Year 2027
LOGLINE
Seeking the true meaning of love, an Asian woman travels to Paris and stays in the hotel room where Oscar Wilde spent his final days. There, she meets a stranger and starts a surreal love experiment with him-one that culminates in her imprisoning him in that very room.
SYNOPSIS
Li, a woman in her 30s, has grown distant from her long-time boyfriend in Beijing. Disillusioned with love and intimacy, she travels to Paris and checks into the legendary hotel room where Oscar Wilde spent his final days. There, she meets a mysterious stranger named Nian and, in a surreal twist of emotional and erotic experimentation, imprisons him in the room to test the limits of love, power, and vulnerability. But as the psychological boundaries blur, Li must confront the uncomfortable truth: it is not the man she has trapped, but herself.
After she sets Nian free, Li reunites with her old French friend Juliette in a Paris hot pot restaurant, musing that perhaps men are like the bubbling broth in front of them-a dish best served hot.
Director — Xue Ma
Director Xue Ma was born in Beijing, China, and received a double degree in Korean and Art from Peking University. She went on to earn a master's degree in Mass Media from Seoul University, and later pursued doctoral studies in Film at Hanyang University in South Korea.
Her debut feature film White River was selected for the 52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Bright Future section, as well as the World Cinema section at the Jeonju International Film Festival and the Panorama section at the Kaohsiung Film Festival. The film was released in the United States by Film Movement in 2024 and had its theatrical release in France in January 2025.
Her second feature, Sonata of Wave, was selected for the 25th Jeonju International Film Festival in 2024, won Best Film and Best Cinematography at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival, and released in China in May 2024.
Aroma is her third feature.