Saagar Kote
‘Reflection in a Dead Diamond’ or ‘Reflet dans un diamant mort’ is an atmospheric tale of obsession narrated through the perspectives of John Diman. He is an old man living a quiet life in a luxury resort by the ocean. His mind goes back to the past, when he used to be a spy handling dangerous missions. In the present, when he spots a beautiful woman by the beach, he becomes infatuated with her. As he pursues her in unusual ways, she suddenly goes missing, leading to chaos and confusion.
The retired spy begins to think that his enemies from the past have somehow resurfaced to harm him. He assumes that there is a connection between the missing girl, his past, and his future. When he investigates the difficult case, his mind traverses different timelines, desperately looking for answers. Towards the final moments of the story, John unexpectedly crosses paths with an individual who might hold the key to unraveling the meaning of his life.
Reflection in a Dead Diamond Plot Synopsis
In the present, John Diman, an old man, sits by the beach in front of a luxury resort. He stares at a bikini-clad, beautiful young woman and seemingly sees diamonds pierced to her breast. The woman from room 317 complains about his behavior, but he continues to obsess over her. He then sees a woman appear and disappear suddenly, after which he hears noises from the next room, but it turns out to be just the resort staff. He discovers the beautiful woman dead near the beach. Suspecting a man walking by, he throws him off the cliff by the Miramare resort. His account at the resort is blocked, even as he reads in the newspaper that the autopsy of the dead girl showed traces of poison. He recalls someone in the past using a biting maneuver to poison and kill people. An elderly woman at the resort has a collection of “John D. Special Agent” books, which illustrate a younger John.
In the past, John, as a younger man, worked as a spy, stealing diamonds from dangerous people and neutralizing uranium-based threats. The woman seems to be injured with diamond burns on her face. He works to access uranium and help the world use it positively. However, he is a womanizer. At the beach, he finds a mysterious face and hair on the ground. John is assigned to protect Marcus Strange, a billionaire oil businessman. He is given a laser ring with an eye to use as a weapon. John violently interrogates a young woman about her true identity and kills her. He then observes Marcus and his new girlfriend at a poker place. The girlfriend seemingly kills people looking for Marcus, using the shiny parts of her dress, but it turns out to be a vision. Marcus then burns and kills the woman, who was also John’s spy partner and lover.
John suspects that she has gone missing. Later, a highly skilled female assassin kills many of Marcus’s men in a bar. John then sees a cryptic message in an envelope, which says, “reflection of your work in a dead eye.” He then finds out that Marcus killed his partner. He sees this in the mirror elements of her dress, which show him video proof, almost defying science. He then pushes Marcus off a cliff near Miramare resort, leading to a violent death. He is then questioned by his superiors about the death. John meets the mysterious assassin who killed Marcus’s men. The assassin uses poison-soaked nails to kill victims, including a smuggler. The assassin is labeled “Serpentik” due to the maneuvers. He also finds out about a cryptic killer who uses pasted messages to inform about someone’s death, and another assassin dubbed “kinetic,” who hypnotizes his victims to think they are in a movie.
In an undefined timeline in the past, Marcus is still alive and takes out an opera singer. Meanwhile, John tries to find out more about the assassin. Marcus sedates the drink of the opera singer, after which she unmasks her face skin and strikes the oil billionaire. This is followed by a devil-masked killer murdering Marcus, possibly revealing that John didn’t kill the one he was supposed to protect. John then shoots the masked killer. The spy is then tasked with finding Serpentik at any cost. He goes on various missions to find Serpentik, but still can’t find the elusive assassin. When he finally finds her, she tries to seduce him, but fails. He “unmasks” the skin of her face. The woman then offers to tell him the truth about who he really is and the secrets of the world they live in. The assassin reveals multiple faces behind her face, in an almost supernatural manner.
Reflection in a Dead Diamond Ending: Is John an Actor or a Spy? Is the Special Agent Movie Real or Imagined?
John’s journey is complicated by the presence of Serpentik and the murder of the young woman in the resort by the beach. In the present, after being questioned by the cops about the young woman, he is allowed to leave. However, when the narrative shifts to the past, a startling alternate perspective is revealed. In his “office,” a younger John, dressed as a spy, overhears corporate executives talking about the possible success of the film “Mission Serpentik.” They believe that John is losing control of the contractual obligations. Since this can jeopardize the mission, they think of replacing him with a more handsome man. John feels jealous, staring at the pictures of his possible replacement. In a shocking twist, it is revealed that John is possibly not a spy, but an actor.
When he fires bullets at a shooting range, a camera crew films his actions. The narrative cuts to a filmmaker yelling “cut,” and John recovering from a violent scene. This scene turns out to be the same one where John interrogated a woman with his laser ring. So, the blood and the injuries on the woman’s face turn out to be just makeup. The scene continues, and John proceeds to injure the woman again. However, the masked woman appears in the set, observing John. He spots her and gives chase, traversing multiple “sets.” When he apprehends her, she shocks him by forcing the black mask onto his face. In the present, when John finds out that his diamonds are not real, he is forced to vacate the resort room.
After receiving the envelope from the elderly lady, he suspects that he is stuck in a dangerous situation. His reality is smashed into pieces as past and present meet intricately, revealing layers of deception and secrecy. The evidence presented in the narrative hints at the fact that John is more likely an actor, and not a spy. The supernatural elements that he sees throughout the narrative, including the images on the glass dress, could most likely be the concoction of his mind or cinematic special effects achieved by the secret agent film that he is part of. He also gains the ability to switch faces after his encounter with the “woman.” He is able to gain the face of the handsome actor, whose picture he saw earlier. During his conversation with the masked woman, we see the crew prepping him with makeup and props, including the laser ring.
The excessive spy elements of the ring, his outfit, and the inexplicable events strongly hint at the possibility that John is an actor. He has probably never been a spy, but his obsession with Serpentik makes him think so. When John and the woman speak, their lines are dubbed by artists in the background, adding more evidence to the hypothesis that John is an actor. The woman strikes him with the so-called poison ring. These moments are then represented as a comic book sequence, which is possibly a representation of the film. But the film is a financial disaster that causes John to be insecure about his future as a movie star.
He is let go by the producers, who hire the handsome man instead. He dejectedly walks out of the screening, possibly realizing that his acting career has taken a major hit. In the present, John wakes up in his room, where the elderly woman observes him. The various moments in the narrative could very well be events in a comic book, or just incidents that happen within John’s mind. All in all, John’s reality is subject to multiple interpretations based on the viewpoints of his past and present selves.
Is Serpentik Real or Imagined? Who is She?
John’s past and present converge in radical and disturbing ways as he comes close to finding the identity of Serpentik. However, what he discovers in the process is a darker reality. When he finally captures the “woman” whom he thinks is Serpentik, she reveals a different perspective on their cat-and-mouse situation. As he “unmasks” the skin of her face, it turns into a wholly different face. From this point onwards, whatever John experiences in the past and present is based on his point of view, with external actors presenting alternate realities. John’s nature as a womanizer plays a major role in expressing the moral themes of the narrative and the fragility of the human mind. He demands to know all the secrets from the woman, who tells him that the world is an illusion.
She then reveals multiple faces of herself, all female and all beautiful in John’s eyes. The multi-faced woman, whom John thinks is Serpentik, injures his face with the diamonds. John’s limitations as a man only make him perceive the woman in a sexual manner. In the present, an elderly woman, who is most likely Serpentik, demands to see John and leaves an envelope for him. After being questioned by the cops about the death of the woman from room 317, John is freed. He then finds out that the diamonds in his room are useless, after which he receives the envelope that says “the return of Serpentik.” In the past, the woman appeared on set again during the shooting of the interrogation scene. An important detail is revealed by the mysterious director at this point. John sees Serpentik in every woman he comes across. She remains his obsession.
As he chases her, she again sheds multiple masks. Serpentik represents more than just an assassin, but John’s biased views as a man. Despite her existence stuck somewhere between reality and imagination, the purpose she serves is far greater than just being an assassin to be apprehended. After using several faces to escape the set, she finally finds herself in a dark room, where she puts her fighting skills to the test. The ones chasing her could either be spies or extras from the movie set. She kills all of them brutally and waits for John to arrive. When he appears behind her, she strips him down and “transfers” her black attire to him, including the mask. When the black masked woman injects John with her ring, she escapes.
However, John chases her in the car, which leads to an accident where she tumbles off the cliff. In the present, it is revealed that the woman is still alive, as she survived the fall. The identity of Serpentik is a puzzle that cannot be solved. Her actions could very well be projections of John’s mind, or her own. She could either have supernatural abilities to switch faces or might be an actress using props. At a deeper level, her identity is simply “feminine,” as seen by John. His masculine insecurities and biased view of women in general possibly make him perceive Serpentik as various beautiful women. Serpentik’s identity is not a question of “who,” but more a query of “why.” The elderly woman could just be a caretaker or an actress in a future film shoot. She might even be an aging Serpentik.
But the narrative doesn’t give easy answers, as it is about deeper questions on human memory and the biases that shape it. The elderly woman also has disguises that John discovers during their conversation towards the end. He realizes that she is still alive. This could also mean that John is still obsessed with Serpentik after many years, highlighting the fact that his ego has gotten the better of him. He knows that he cannot chase her, but still chooses to do so. Ultimately, Serpentik has no real identity. She is an entity that represents the feminine counter to John’s excessive masculinity and ego.
Is John Dead or Alive? Does Serpentik Survive?
When John realizes that the elderly woman is Serpentik, she runs away and drives away. He sees photographs of the past, and also multiple comic books related to the special agent. He then chases her in his own car. This sequence features constant shifts between the past and the present, which could both be real or imagined. This particular moment can be perceived as taking place in an undefined timeline, as it merges the past and present in complex ways, where the comic book images, the younger John, and the older John all chase Serpenti, who appears as an elderly woman and also in the younger, masked form. As the multiple versions of John catch up, the woman fires flares, but fails to stop John’s attack. This ultimately leads to her falling off the cliff and meeting her end, as John notices from above.
He assumes that he has finally achieved dominance over the enigmatic Serpentik. However, he is shocked to see the younger masked woman appear behind him again. He willingly gets into the car, and they drive away. She tells him that her dreams are chaotic, and his dreams paint him as a hero fighting for humanity. She then drives off the cliff and removes her mask. However, her identity is still not revealed, as she kisses John one last time. She even uses the ring to strike his neck. At this point, the narrative shows that they both die. But the concluding sequence adds to the chaos of the story. The elderly John stares at the ocean from the beachside and thinks about his life again. This could possibly mean that he has been imagining everything from the beginning.
It might also be a symbolic representation of his lonely life. His obsession with success and his desire for Serpentik keep his mind racing. He may be imagining his own death, where he joins Serpentik for eternity, or he could very well be dead. Since the comic book pictures, the special agent movie, and the life of the spy converge throughout the narrative, there is logically no way to predict whether John and Serpentik survived. In conclusion, their lives are not subject to the limitations of science or logic and are more absurdist and supernatural.
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