Student filmmaker? Wow! Such an amazing piece following the final stages of a break-up that portrays a universal emotion and connection. To me Cecilie (so wonderfully played by Frederikke Dahl Hansen) seems to sense this coming in the first scene where William (Ferdinand Falsen Hills) embraces her, but she almost reluctantly hugs him and avoids a returned kiss. Then the pain unfolds on the sofa and this moved me to tears. Hansen is so raw and vulnerable at this point. This is acting encapsulated in one moment, her look, her emotions laid completely on the line.
Maybe it resonated with me because I did the same thing with an ex girlfriend about two weeks after we split. It was a joyous experience when I was at my lowest ebb. A way to part like no other. She was there and then she was gone. The last time I saw her (in fact I bumped in to her some years later by accident and she had married the guy she was in love with all along) was going handstands in my grotty little flat. I think it's more complex than this, however...
The Director skillfully juxtaposes night with day, using flashbacks with purpose. I often think flashbacks in short films are a lazy way of executing a story. The exposition using this method at the expense of emotion, actions and words: cutting corners where time is the enemy in a sense. Not the case here: there is a reason behind them and contrasting night and the shadowy, darkness of an emotional break-up, with day: hope springing eternal, ensures the audience doesn't confuse present with past. It's very clever.
There is a look that Cecille gives at the end when the door finally closes, that completely encapsulates her feeling. She smiles twice as she remembers the very first day they met: we see this. What we also see throughout is a frank expression of emotion by both; like we a drawn in to the break-up, through close-ups and hand-held unease. We feel the pain and experience the final chapter with the characters'.
This is now possibly my favourite ever short film. Even more sore than Apricot (Ben Briand). Copenhagen brought me to it and I am glad that I was drawn to it. I am moved and anyone that watches this will be moved.
