Sempiternal story
Sempiternal story
SEMPITERNAL is a short film exploring loss and emotional inertia.
Sam is a man adrift in the wake of a relationship. Left by his girlfriend, unable to find a means to move on, he responds to an ad by an enigmatic couple who claim they can help, but what he takes to be a form of off-kilter therapy soon evolves into something far stranger.
Sempiternal Mood Board
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Loss and regret are certainties in life, along with denial when things go wrong. In this regard, Sam is us, you and I, a representation of the moment we’ve all experienced when we wished things hadn’t changed, that our equilibrium had been maintained. SEMPITERNAL considers the possibility of what would happen were there a means to grant this wish, and from there offers the audience the choice to decide the consequences. Has Sam suffered a break from reality, rendering the couple a figment of this breakdown? Or do the couple exist and through their actions give Sam the means to move on? Or is it simply that the pair exploit his vulnerability, that the moment he leaves his flat in their hands the real work of fleecing him truly begins? And if so, does it even matter? Though Sam may well have been conned, he’s nonetheless found what he needed, arrived at a place of contentment.
Further exploring the notion of unity - that the characters, us the filmmakers, the audience themselves, will all at some point, in some way or other, have shared a dilemma similar to Sam’s - is furthered by both the couple’s physical dissimilarity to Sam and Robyn, and their tokenistic, almost negligent attempts to bridge this gap. That they don’t resemble the people they portray is essentially irrelevant, for the gamut of emotions run by us all remains the same whoever we are.
Sempiternal Mood Board
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Loss and regret are certainties in life, along with denial when things go wrong. In this regard, Sam is us, you and I, a representation of the moment we’ve all experienced when we wished things hadn’t changed, that our equilibrium had been maintained. SEMPITERNAL considers the possibility of what would happen were there a means to grant this wish, and from there offers the audience the choice to decide the consequences. Has Sam suffered a break from reality, rendering the couple a figment of this breakdown? Or do the couple exist and through their actions give Sam the means to move on? Or is it simply that the pair exploit his vulnerability, that the moment he leaves his flat in their hands the real work of fleecing him truly begins? And if so, does it even matter? Though Sam may well have been conned, he’s nonetheless found what he needed, arrived at a place of contentment.
Further exploring the notion of unity - that the characters, us the filmmakers, the audience themselves, will all at some point, in some way or other, have shared a dilemma similar to Sam’s - is furthered by both the couple’s physical dissimilarity to Sam and Robyn, and their tokenistic, almost negligent attempts to bridge this gap. That they don’t resemble the people they portray is essentially irrelevant, for the gamut of emotions run by us all remains the same whoever we are.
Shooting Style
The film’s visual language will aim to both support and portray the morphing of Sam’s mental state. Through a progression from musty darkness to ethereal light, from handheld camera to locked off shots, the audience will experience vicariously Sam’s journey from confusion and pain to joy and release.
Beauty of Bodies
As well as being the physical manifestation of Sam’s desired moment, the final scene tableau and its subsequent dissolve into abstracts serves to portray the intangible aspects of human relationships: love exists as much in these idle moments as it does any other, yet we often forget them when things fall apart, focussing instead on larger, more prominent events.
