looking she said I forget

looking she said I forget

Still from looking she said I forget (2024)
Locarno Film Festival

VERDICT: A young woman acclimatises to the rhythms of a new city while reflecting on those of her lifestyle in this heady short from Naomi Pacifique.

Lou (Juliet Darremont) wrestles with her feelings throughout Naomi Pacifique’s new film, looking she said I forget.

Having been the one to instigate an open relationship with her partner Joel (Gael Kamilindi) she now finds herself unpacking boxes in their new apartment in Amsterdam while he is away with another woman. The film is a quiet contemplation that reflects on how we measure isolation and connection, finding new places in the heart of a new city but being swallowed by the blue hues of distance.

In various places, the author Rebecca Solnit has mused on the nature of the colour blur and its relationship to distance. Whether that is the far-flung blue of a mountain range on the horizon, the scattered light of the deep ocean or the open sky, or the length from which we view the things we desire. Pacifique’s film uses this colour association throughout, often dressing Lou in blue, having her inhabit blue spaces, lie against blue carpet, worry about a blue lamp that may or may not have been broken by their removal men.

Framed by this colour she reflects upon Joel choice to be away from her, with another woman, and the motivations through which she decided to propose their non-monogamist relationship. Pacifique’s screenplay is sparse, this is not a film in which dialogue serves to probe at these ideas – instead they develop gradually and through a captivating central performance by Darremont. In the scene where Joel confesses that his situation with the other woman is “getting intense,” Pacifique patiently watches Darremont’s eyes while they convey more that any dialogue could. It gives looking she said I forget a relaxed aspect, but one that allows for great depths and impressive nuance to emerge.

Director, screenplay: Naomi Pacifique
Cast: Juliet Darremont, Gael Kamilindi, Tom de Ronde
Producers: Rafael Manuel, Albert Kuhn, Yan Decoppet, Gabriela Bussmann, Naomi Pacifique
Cinematography: Xenia Patricia
Editing: Lucia Martinez Garcia, Naomi Pacifique
Sound: Marine Maya, Clara Alloing
Music: Ella van der Woude, Cyrielle Formaz, Naomi Pacifique
Production Design: Thea Spiri, Barbara Krantz
Production companies: Idle Eye (Netherlands), GoldenEggProduction, RTS (Switzerland)
Venue: Locarno Film Festival (Pardi di Domani – Concorso Nazionale)
In French, English, Dutch, Spanish
25 minutes