1 Degré de Séparation: Big Family Drama and A Wedding

5pm Productions’ first short film 1 Degré de Séparation (directed by Sonia Rossier) is a drama that at least half of its characters would call denial, and at least some of the other half would insist is of devotion. Nonetheless, it is a drama following Victoria on her wedding day with her family ranging from explicitly unhappy to politely ambivalent. It is a curious enough situation. And then the ex-boyfriend shows up. 

Peculiarly, the film does not open with any of this. The music is light and hopeful, instead. The protagonist is given a borderline coy introduction with the sequence’s many fragmentary shots. And then it cuts to a completely different kind of mood: thick, ticking tension. It introduces the other important element in this drama, i.e., the family, or more precisely, the mother (Maria Mettral). It is so tense, and the woman so clearly unhappy, you are left to wonder if she is in fact the in-law. 

Indeed, it is easy to wonder if Victoria is not soldiering on amidst oppressive in-laws, what with unattended children, missing jewellery, and no one willing to answer the door. There is something uncanny to see a half dressed, harried bride running around in the middle of the day to take care of all this while everyone else stands around waiting for some kind of doom or salvation. The film counts on you to hold on to that feeling. Of course, the underscoring motif, the outgoing message on the groom’s phone, ensures that you simply cannot sit back and simply wait for the ceremony. Repeated calls, no answer. The cheery tone somehow makes it worse. All the while, Victoria (Lauriane Gilliéron) carries on as if nothing is a big deal—absentee  necklace or fiance or anything else in between. 

The ex-boyfriend (Antonin Schopfer) sparks a crack in that facade. The resulting outburst is tonally uncharacteristic, but on the other hand, the low-angle point of view shot allows Victoria to telegraph her hurt and fury strongly enough to have you feeling with her. Here and throughout the film, Gilliéron is simply compelling. Mettral excels. And Nadine (Safi Martin Yé) has but a few seconds worth of significant screen time—the brief scene of her arrival earlier—and Yé uses them to her advantage to the microsecond. 

1 Degré de Séparation is brought alive by its cast, flaws practically blurred out by their restrained performances. One cannot help but hope for more; more of the family as it cuts itself up and tries to line up the pieces into a picture resembling functionality; and more of the scene between Victoria and her stepdaughter (Robert Alexia) before the big reveal.