Anna is pregnant with her writer husband, having a good, if perhaps unfulfilling life. This is turned upside down when she finds her husband Kenneth has welcomed celebrity Albert Shaw into their house, as he has purchased the one across the street. Mr. Shaw insists of mistakenly calling Anna "Helen", and, despite his wife's clear discomfort, Kenneth insists that he join them for dinner. That night, over wine and food, the constant suggestion of there being more to Shaw than meets the eye continues to manifest – particularly to Anna, who already is all too aware that Albert is her ex-partner, and that her attempts to build a new life are under threat.
There is a lot of conflicting material within this short film, which runs to almost 20 minutes. It has a period feel and plays out like a melodrama as it focuses mainly on one key dinner scene where Albert continues to carelessly pull at the threads of Kenneth and Anna's relationship. But without ever coming out and telling the whole story. This interested me as an idea, and I did really like the film for focusing on one or two key scenes, since this in theory lets the content stew somewhat, perhaps with tension building across it. However the delivery is oddly combined. On one hand we have a very stilted tone, which is very deliberately cold and concise; this is seen in the cinematography, the score, the pacing, and (for the most part) in the performance of Winter. However within this we have a scenario, an ending, and a central performance which is wonderfully over the top. To be fair, the film would probably have been better if it did away with the former material and made more of a direct move towards this gaudy side, building more in support of it, and more to let the viewer know that it is totally okay to enjoy these elements for the ham they so clearly are. Unfortunately, it doesn't do this, and instead the viewer is left with two aspects which consistently work against each other.
It is a shame because the film's ending does appear to fully embrace this element of it; and certainly it appears that Billington has been told not to hold too much back. His performance, and the bits of tone that match it, are actually very enjoyable, and there was a sense of menace in the core dinner scene – unfortunately just not one that linked to a reality (even an internal reality) of the film. That it runs long for a short film doesn't help it either. It does have elements that make it well worth a look, but unfortunately it has other elements that conflict with these, and detract more than they should.
There is a lot of conflicting material within this short film, which runs to almost 20 minutes. It has a period feel and plays out like a melodrama as it focuses mainly on one key dinner scene where Albert continues to carelessly pull at the threads of Kenneth and Anna's relationship. But without ever coming out and telling the whole story. This interested me as an idea, and I did really like the film for focusing on one or two key scenes, since this in theory lets the content stew somewhat, perhaps with tension building across it. However the delivery is oddly combined. On one hand we have a very stilted tone, which is very deliberately cold and concise; this is seen in the cinematography, the score, the pacing, and (for the most part) in the performance of Winter. However within this we have a scenario, an ending, and a central performance which is wonderfully over the top. To be fair, the film would probably have been better if it did away with the former material and made more of a direct move towards this gaudy side, building more in support of it, and more to let the viewer know that it is totally okay to enjoy these elements for the ham they so clearly are. Unfortunately, it doesn't do this, and instead the viewer is left with two aspects which consistently work against each other.
It is a shame because the film's ending does appear to fully embrace this element of it; and certainly it appears that Billington has been told not to hold too much back. His performance, and the bits of tone that match it, are actually very enjoyable, and there was a sense of menace in the core dinner scene – unfortunately just not one that linked to a reality (even an internal reality) of the film. That it runs long for a short film doesn't help it either. It does have elements that make it well worth a look, but unfortunately it has other elements that conflict with these, and detract more than they should.
