Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: David Färdmar
Starring: Björn Elgerd, Jonathan Andersson, Micki Stoltt, Nemanja Stojanovic, Victor Iván
Who says that the best loves last forever? We never see Cinderella and
Prince Charming a few years down the line with the bloom well and truly
rubbed off that rose, their relationship now built solely upon compromise
and a crippling fear of moving on; the initial excitement of misfit
slippers and class ascendancy long since disappeared like a midnight
pumpkin. Populist cinema traditionally highlights the rush and
consummation of initial attraction, with scant attention paid to the
business end of relationships. However, more recently the break-up trope
has become a resurgent element of the Rom Com genre, where jolly conflict
is duly forged by amorous disorder. It is also the stuff of Important
Cinema, where heady emotional narratives allow actors much wailing and
gnashing of teeth, with no scenery left unchewed, cf.
Marriage Story. A part of this tradition, writer/director David Färdmar’s
Are We Lost Forever likewise prioritises the protracted end
of a relationship between two handsome, middle class creatives (the
marketing even shares a similar poster layout to Baumbach’s divorce
discourse).
The difference is that the beauteous stars of
Are We Lost Forever are two young men, Adrian (Björn Elgerd) and Hampus (Jonathan Andersson), for whom the spark has gone.
And, look, it IS different. No one would expect any couple to be treated
differently due to the genders or sexualities involved, but certain
dynamics have varying cultural contexts. For one thing, what most
heterosexual couples may take for granted - marriage, children, acceptance
- are often not quite as straightforward for gay people. And that’s before
we even touch upon (ooer!) the sybaritic male rush of sexuality that being
young and homosexual in the city entails; the ease of access to sex which
Are We Lost Forever visually indulges in extended, idealised
sequences. In fact, emblematic of the central relationship throughout the
film is the conjugal bed which we open upon, as Hampus breaks it
post-coitally to Adrian that he’s had enough. The conversation is as
simpatico as these things go, until, divvying up their stuff, Hampus
insists on having his ‘half’ of the bed back (it’s one of those link beds
you sometimes get in hotels). The bed is, after all, where couples share
pillow talk, the vulnerabilities of sleep, and, of course, shag.
And that shagging! For the most part, Are We Lost Forever is
glacial and removed, the various ups and downs of the break-up (extended,
back and forth, like the worst ones are) shown in tableaus in which
Färdmar allows his young cast to do their (good) work communicating the
anguish of a break-up between those still fledgling enough for it to be a
novelty. The style catalyses when we see Hampus and Adrian fall back into
old habits or witness their various hook ups as they experiment with new
partners. Färdmar’s camera stares, leers, captures with an electricity not
current with the rest of the film: the thirst is real (as is the
verisimilitude of the sex scenes, which have fealty to the contortions and
angling necessary for this particular act of ardour). A plot point is made
of this, too, with Hampus aligning Adrian’s top status with his need to
control situations.
These rousing sequences, however, are linked by rather quotidian scenes of
each of the men’s attempts to get over and get on. To give you an idea,
Hampus gets his guitar out and pours himself into the music. That sort of
thing. The film does flirt with the undercurrents of break ups: how far do
you have to moon over someone before it becomes stalking; does Adrian
actually bemoan the loss of Hampus or is it more that he resents the fact
his fella got his elbow in first? But
Are We Lost Forever falls short of fully committing to these
concepts. Furthermore, perhaps because they are so young and good looking,
and exist within a stylised utopia of Scandi pop and The White Company
interiors, it is hard to relate to either of these Sad Gays. The harsh
actualities of breaking up is a universal touchstone, but even the most
bleeding of hearts will want to yell at the screen for these lads to get
over it.
Are We Lost Forever is on UK
Digital, DVD and blu-ray from January 18th.
