"You take the lamb, and she'll always follow."
I lost count of how many times I whispered "J*sus Christ..." while watching this. It's so unsettling because it feels and looks so real. To some degree, a situation like this has happened to all of us at least once in our lives-but especially if you're a woman. Let's stop beating around the bush: every woman has met a "Paul" in her life. That's a sad truth, but the truth nonetheless.
Fifteen minutes flow in seconds, at times too quickly (if you ask me), and the cinematography is almost blinding with its honest capturing of opposite forces forcedly existing in the same confined space. Together with the actors' performances, especially Éanna Hardwicke's one, the atmosphere becomes anxiety-inducing from the very start. The dark, invasive aura that entered Sarah's home a stark contrast with the "gorgeous day outside". This way, the viewer experiences constant and increasing maddening discomfort through Sarah's own discomfort with the situation she and her child are in. Personally, the ending was the perfect one for my taste.
And about Éanna Hardwicke, man... How does he nail his part in every single performance? I'm so happy I was able to see him in this short film too.
A round of applause to the crew, the actors (Aoife Duffin as Sarah and Éanna Hardwicke as Paul) and Sinéad O'Loughlin for writing and directing it! 👏🏻❤
"I didn't break in here, okay? Your door was open!"
