Mai (Ladya Cheryll), the daughter of a rich but always absent father
(who drove her mother to suicide many years back) is living in a guilded
cage, where dad's maid and driver look after her day and night and ultimately grant her not one bit of freedom. Eventually, she falls in love
with Bari (Doni Alamsyah), a delivery boy she only watches from afar (and
who has no idea about her existence), and eventually, she finds out where
he lives, gives her guardians the slip, and moves into the
appartment next to his in a rundown building. Upon actually meeting for
the first time, Bari and Mai hit it off pretty much right away, and she
learns that he's actually a writer, writing about the many freaks and
outcasts living in the building, from transvestites to homosexuals, and
everything in between. Mai soon becomes fascinated with Bari's novel and
wants to become a part of it, as much as she wants to be with him ... There's
just one problem with Bari, actually, and that's his girlfriend Renta (Kinaryosih).
In a weak moment, Mai however manages to seduce Bari, and actually gives up
her virginity to him, but afterwards, he is overcome by guilt and
doesn't want to have anything more to do with her - upon which she goes
simply mental, killing some cats and an old man out of frustration and
terrorizing Bari by placing her bloodied sheet from their night together
on his doorstep and whatnot. Ultimately she even tells Renta of their
affair, effectively breaking the couple up ... but that doesn't mean Bari
comes running to Mai, quite the opposite. Ultimately, Mai attacks Renta
and ties her up in one of the abandoned rooms in the attic of the
building, and Bari tries to get Renta's whereabouts out of Mai in vain ...
until he remembers that she follows the novel he is writing and is able to
save Renta. Mai meanwhile feels she has lost, and she takes her own life
by leaping off the building. The end sees Bari and Renta reunited, with
his book Fiksi (= fiction) having become a bestseller. But how
much of the story we just saw was actually real, how much is (his) fiction? Interesting
thriller with an exciting plot that's carried by a competent cast and an
elegant directorial effort. The film suffers slightly by its pacing that's
a bit too slow to create the tension and suspense the film would have
deserved, but even as it is, Fiksi most certainly ranks among the
best Indonesian psychothrillers there are ...
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