Deux petits chats

Scriptwriter, director Aleksander Solum
Short movie (DV, couleurs)
Production Munin Film – 2006

A boy, a girl, a misunderstanding, a good deal of hesitation, and a story that gently follows its course.

Scriptwriter, director, film editor Aleksander SOLUM / Cast Béryl COUTAT, Julien DAILLERE / Director of photography Tore HOLBERG / Sound designer, editor Rick LIMENTANI, Mette LILLEBY / Make-up artist Leïla CAUDRILLIER

Synopsis
This film explores one of the ways in which an individual can become distanced from his fundamental needs and desires.

The daily rhythm of the two protagonists is glimpsed through a dreary cityscape, and gives way to a mystical sense of possession as the girl-protagonist is driven almost unconsciously to visit her boyfriend unannounced, in spite of having given up this relationship long ago.

That it is a search for warmth and understanding that drives her is not at first apparent, as she believes herself to be pregnant, and being troubled by this, asks her boyfriend what he thinks that they should do now. But failing to look at the situation with a perceptive eye, he fears that this new event will drive his girlfriend even further away. He therefore withdraws, afraid of the forces seemingly beyond his control that affect his life.

Alone, in a calmer state of mind, he then manages to empathize with her emotions, and sees a glimpse of the longing that she has tried to express.

As he finds her alone in her apartment, they reach a point in which there is nothing to be said and nothing to be done beyond accepting the other person’s state of being, – to find that even though certain experiences remain incomprehensible, many painful situations are also an opportunity to show tenderness.

Director’s note
Alienation in the modern society is an issue that recent events have brought to the forefront of attention. With this film I have wanted to show the importance of genuine interest in and empathy with others. I have chosen to construct a narrative that builds upon emotions from the daily life, and that demonstrates this message through a form of visual conjecture in which the memory of certain experiences come together to form a whole that is, like one’s sense of the past, at the same time distant and very near.

Being the first project that I have directed in France, it has been particularly interesting to learn how no matter where one finds oneself in the world, the human substance of a story can take form and relate to an interpretation of the external environment. It has been a pleasure to work in France and with a French crew.