Gum

Synopsis

One day Pierre's TV breaks down, what at first seems like another setback will soon take him down a new road.
Pierre West is a drama about hope and darkness, filmed over 17 years.

The short film Pierre West excels in expressing in images the content of the screenplay, which by the way has some issues that could result in a unsatisfactory movie if filmed by directors of fewer skills than Henrik Larsson and Jakob Arevärn who, intriguingly, are also the authors of the script.

It is a story about loneliness, and, accordingly, the protagonist Pierre is the only one on the screen during almost the entire movie. This feeling of solitude hits the viewer strongly in the scenes where he is working in the toy cars tracks studio, especially in one brief long shot with the character in the foreground.

Directed by

Henrik Larsson, Jakob Arevärn

Henrik Larsson, Jakob Arevärn

Written & Produced by

Cast

Tomas Hartwig, Alexandra Lindqvist

Henrik Larsson, Jakob Arevärn

In this sense, the use of the split screen in the first part of the movie is meaningful. It is probably the only chance of a love relationship that Pierre has in his life or, in other words, the closest he ever gets too ne. So, by using the two frames side-by-side this image reveals that he and Eva have an instant click of emotional affinity but, in fact, they are never together. On the other hand, the split screen with the two characters sharing the same amount of time in the shot may give the false idea that the plot will display both their stories when, actually, the main character is only Pierre. And that is quite frustrating, because Alexandra Lindqvist, the actress who plays Eva has a natural screen magnetism that enlightens the film.

Another thing to comment on in the first part is that it is a perfectly made period piece. Not only is the art department outstanding in bringing to the scene the furniture, props and equipment from 17 years ago, but also the image has the characteristic of that time. It doesn’t matter how this treatment was obtained, whether in the filming of in the postproduction, it certainly works amazingly.

The constant use of close-ups to film Pierre inside his home results in a claustrophobic feeling which is coherent to the low self-esteem the character has. Stuck in his solitude, he is afraid to call Eva, and the shot of Pierre behind the lines of the blind in the window represents that he is caged in his fear.

There are some examples of smart use of film editing. For instance, to create some opposite ideas Pierre says he works for a racing car company and the scene cuts to the toy cars. Or when Eva chooses the country she is moving to in the Earth globe in front of her, in a montage sequence that explains without words what happened to her after she resigned from her job, thus explaining why Pierre could not reach her.

However, the movie falls victim of the filmmakers’ intention to depict the causes and effects of solitude and depression, besides pointing solutions to fight them. Therefore, enters an uninspired analogy with food, that becomes even worse with the use of images to illustrate what is said. Equally, the uninteresting conversations with the Greek character exist only to present the idea that it is important to have good friends around. Seemingly, the problem with the car and the passing of his dog exist just to show how miserable Pierre’s life is. Yet the cause of his insecurity is in his father’s behavior, as Pierre tells verbally, when it would be more effective if shown in a flashback.

Anyway, the script is not so strong, but the movie is captivating, due to the touch of the directors Henrik Larsson and Jakob Arevärn. If these two can make such a film with a not so good screenplay, what wouldn’t they achieve with a great one?

2024, Sweden, 29 min

Eduardo Kaneco

Film critic, the founder of Leitura Filmica