Summary
Game Rant can exclusively share a clip fromWhat Remains, which features a brief discussion about a suspected serial killer. The video underlines the upcoming film’s unusual premise, which combines elements ofcrime proceduralswith character studies.
What Remainsis the directorial feature film debut from Chinese filmmaker and artist Ran Huang. While it’s been shown at several festivals since 2022, it has yet to be released to a wider audience. Los Angeles-based company VMI WorldWide recently secured its distribution rights, confirming plans to release it on June 21.
Game Rant can now share an exclusive clip from the movie ahead of its debut. The 92-second video features an exchange between psychiatrist Anna Rudebeck and detective Sören Rank, portrayed by Academy Award nominee Anna Rudebeck andGolden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård, respectively. The two discuss Mads Lake, a suspected serial killer whose murder confession is central to the movie’s plot. While they agree that their pursuit of truth is the overarching goal, they disagree on how Lake, played by Skarsgård’s son Gustaf, should be treated.
Rudebeck hence urges the detective not to talk to Lake “like a criminal,” to which he reacts with dismissal, reminding her that the suspect confessed to killing a 13-year-old. The psychiatrist insists that “he’s a victim, too,” and that he should still be treated more humanely. Aside from setting up this tense detective-psychiatrist dynamic that permeates the rest of the movie, the clip also hints at how some of its main characters are invested in theserial killer caseon a personal level.
‘What Remains’ Seeks to Explore Human Connection Through Serial Killer Story
The following section includes details on the real-world events that inspired What Remains and can hence be considered spoilers.
Despite the case being central to the plot,What Remainsisn’t really a story about a serial killer or even finding the truth. Instead, director Ran Huang, who also co-wrote its script with Megan Everett-Skarsgård, says that the movie seeks to explore the “human connection.” That’s presumably because the events that inspired the film were heavily influenced by such connections, ending with the confessed murderer—Swedish national Thomas Quick—being convicted and subsequently acquitted after it came to light that his 30-plus murder confessions were made up.
While his motivation for confessing to the murders is still unclear, some later probes turned up a theory that he was merely looking to maintain his stream of benzodiazepines, a type of potent tranquilizers that were supplied to him during the investigation and to which he was addicted at the time. Huang says he was fascinated by this story and wantedWhat Remainsto explore the type of co-dependency and emotional connections that have developed between the mentally troubled suspect, his psychiatrist, and the chief detective on the case.
