Paramount contracts Syndrome E, French novel compared to a Fincher film

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Now here’s a syndrome I think we’d all like to catch!

Deadline is reporting that Paramount has just acquired the rights to SYNDROME E, a French novel by Franck Thilliez. The book doesn’t hit shelves until August, but is already drawing comparisons to SE7EN and THE GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO. Perhaps Fincher will pony up and direct this bastard as well…

Here’s a run-down, via Amazon:

Already a runaway bestseller in France, Syndrome E tells the story of beleaguered detective Lucie Hennebelle, whose old friend has developed a case of spontaneous blindness after watching an extremely rare—and violent—film from the 1950s. Embedded in the film are subliminal images so unspeakably heinous that Lucie realizes she must get to the bottom of it—especially when nearly everyone who comes into contact with the film starts turning up dead.

Enlisting the help of Inspector Franck Sharko—a brooding, broken analyst for the Paris police who is exploring the film’s connection to five murdered men left in the woods, Lucie begins to strip away the layers of what is perhaps the most disturbing and powerful film ever made. Soon Sharko and Lucie find themselves mired in a darkness that spreads across politics, religion, science, and art while stretching from France to Canada, Egypt to Rwanda, and beyond. And just who is responsible for this darkness will blow readers minds, as Syndrome E forces them to consider: what if the earliest and most brilliant advances and discoveries of neuroscience were not used for good—but for evil.

Sounds like a pretty damn sweet ride to me. Hopefully Paramount hires a skilled director – either an up and comer with balls or a salty vet with the right sensibility.

Until we learn more, let us know how the premise sits with ya!

Rooney & Kate Mara have both worked with Fincher, the former in GWTDT, the latter in the series “House of Cards”