By Sophie
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCLfWruaEVU
Available until: Unknown
This fascinating short film was
written and directed by a third year student at the University of the West of
Scotland. It is one of many pieces that has appeared unexpectedly on the Mobile
Theatre twitter feed. Although Mobile Theatre is primarily a theatre blog, work
in many other media have caught our eyes and the fact it was not made on a
stage seems no reason to ignore something this interesting.
Two young women walk along the beach, clearly in love. They stop to look at the sea; one, Hayley, moves closer and her partner (I don’t know the partner’s name) decides to take a picture of her. She looks away momentarily… when she looks back, Hayley is gone.
Months later, she hasn’t forgotten
Hayley. How could she, when they were so much in love? She is determined to
discover what happened, desperately trying to understand the cruel sea that
apparently took the woman she loved.
There is little dialogue in this film.
The women communicate more in gestures and giggles than words: there is an
adorable connection that clearly shows their closeness. (It’s also lovely to
see a film about a same-sex couple where their sexuality is incidental; they
are merely a couple in love.) In the present day, there are conversations
between the partner and another girl who has been living with her, apparently
since Hayley’s disappearance. The friend is clearly deeply concerned, but the
partner says little. Her longest speech isn’t about Hayley at all, but her
voice and face show what’s really on her mind.
Writer and director Rhys Alan Jones
judges the long silences so well. They all feel exactly right; there is never
any jarring feeling that he’s cut away too soon or held on for too long and the
result is an intensely moving and gripping film. Moments from the past
intermingle with that of the present, but it doesn’t feel as though it is a
simple case of the action jumping back and forward in time. They feel like
memories, filling the partner’s head and our screens.
Abbi Stevenson as the partner gives a
wonderful portrayal of a woman on the edge: a performance full of strain and
tension; a person barely functioning. A great contrast from when she’s seen so
happy with Hayley. Hayley herself, played by Rebekah Copeland, is more of an
enigma: a shadowy figure who seems to love her partner, but so much is unknown.
The friend is mostly somewhere between angry and terrified by the erratic
behaviour of Hayley’s partner, but Ariana Ferris McLean suggests a very caring
nature underneath that. (The cast list doesn’t say who plays whom, but I’ve
done some exploring on the internet and I think I’ve got everyone right.)
If a film is twelve minutes long and
there are this many things to say about it and none of them are bad, that can
only be a good sign.
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