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This excellent little 10-min short film from Aimimage Productions (not to be confused with Michael Apted's 1994 feature film, nor Bea de Visser's 1997 short film of the same name) appears to have been made as part of Channel 4's “Short and Curlies” season that was broadcast in 1998 Spring, but maybe wasn't ready in time (it was only shot that March) as I haven't found any record of it being shown until it was snuck into the Channel 4 schedule in the early hours of 2000 March 13.

It was written and directed by Amy Jenkins, who is still best known for being the creator of the 1990s cult drama series This Life.  Both productions have a similar feel to me, which I can't quite put my finger on – the colour, the sound, the editing? – but those are areas Jenkins would have had little to do with, at least on This Life, which she didn't direct.

Fox had worked with James Purefoy (who plays John) before, on the feature-length TV drama Bright Hair, and she later did the audiobook for Jenkins's first novel Honeymoon, the story of which has similarities with this film.

It's perhaps not easy to understand what's going on in the film: Radio Times billed it as “The surreal story of a boyfriend and girlfriend who don't communicate very well”, which was better than some other listings' attempts.  My understanding of it, which may well be incorrect, is that in psychology an elephant is a metaphor for an unacknowledged problem, so the cute baby elephant that sits on the table in Nicki & John's kitchen, rather than being an arbitrary piece of cinematic surrealism, is an indication that there is an unresolved tension below the surface of their relationship.  The source of this tension is soon revealed to be that John's ex-girlfriend, Nell, has come to stay, and as she is a more open person that the somewhat uptight Nicki, she appears to still have a closer relationship with him in some ways than Nicki does. 

The first thing that struck me when watching it was the wealth of lovely silent, “moody” poses, many of Nicki, such as the the two screen shots at top and these:



Indeed, there's relatively little dialogue in the film, the soundtrack relying heavily on various atmospheric sounds and music (which includes Radiohead's A Reminder): for example, the scene where Nicki comes to collect her books, awkwardly interrupting John & Nell's intimate conversation:


“Oh... Sorry... I just need my...”

Nicki has a brief visit from her friend Jane, who can sense the tension as soon as she walks in through the door, and tries to get Nicki to confront it, with only limited success:


“I don't want to talk about it.”

The highlight of the film is an amazing bit of acting by Fox in the final scene, where Nicki & John finally confront the tension, in which she simultaneously laughs and cries with relief.  This is a genuine mix of emotions that can occur in such a case of relieving extreme tension, and her portrayal of the two components simultaneously is so perfect that I make no apologies for showing several similar screen shots showing the development of the facial expressions:




“[crying/laughing sounds]... you are ridiculous sometimes... you say ridiculous things.”

which then flows into the reconciliation:


Cast:
JohnJames Purefoy
NickiEmilia Fox
NellParis Jefferson
JaneRachel Scorgie
ElephantArtem Visual Effects
Crew:
WrittenAmy Jenkins
ProducedAlex Johnson
DirectedAmy Jenkins

[Available for free private viewing over the Internet: go to this page on the Channel 4 / FilmFour website.]


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