Character Relationship Map: The Balconettes

Characters

• Ruby (played by Souheila Yacoub) — protagonist

  A webcam model and one of the three friends. After staying behind for a photo shoot with the neighbor, she accidentally kills him during an attempted rape, returning home covered in blood and temporar...

• Nicole (played by Sanda Codreanu) — supporting

  An aspiring writer and one of the three friends. She stays at the neighbor's apartment, finds the severed body part, and later confronts and banishes the ghosts of rapists, including the murdered neig...

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Ruby → Nicole (Social Friend) — They are close friends who face the aftermath of the killing together.

  Ruby and Nicole are explicitly introduced as two of the three friends sharing the apartment during the heat wave.

Story Analysis

Three friends transform sexual violence, guilt, and haunting into collective survival and liberation.

Plot Progression

1. Heat, Desire, and Invitation — Three friends endure a Marseille heat wave while watching and imagining their mysterious neighbor. A minor accident brings an invitation into his apartment and photo studio.
2. Blood Behind the Camera — Ruby stays behind for a photo shoot and kills the neighbor while resisting an attempted rape. She returns covered in blood, and the friends discover the disturbing crime scene.
3. Bodies and Hauntings — The friends clean the apartment and hide the body in a freezer. Meanwhile, Paul stalks his partner, and Nicole begins to experience a haunting connected to sexual violence.
4. Confession and Disposal — Ruby explains what happened to her, allowing the friends to confront the reality of the assault. They dismember the body, seal it in suitcases, and throw it into the sea.
5. A New Life in the Streets — Paul's partner ends her pregnancy and leaves him. Nicole makes the ghosts acknowledge their guilt, while the women reclaim public space and celebrate a new life.