The previous short film I had seen from the director of Sweet Things was "Shower". It was an impacting film but one that I felt was so much on the surface that it was hard to get beyond it. By contrast, Sweet Things is so subtle that you may not even get it as you watch it until the end. Essentially a woman waits in a coffee shop for a job interviewer to arrive, he arrives, they have the interview, she gets the job, and then the interviewer leaves. That's it in terms of story.
Where the film ends though is a slow dolly shot away from the woman as her mood darkens after the interview. This moment is really well done because it clarifies the whole film - or at least for some of us it will, for others the point may have been clear throughout. The 'point' is that the interview is one with a constant reminder that the interviewer is a man, and the interviewee is a younger woman. For many viewers, this may already have been clear but mostly the downside of this dynamic is well played out. There is no 'sexual harassment' in the 'classic' sense but rather just a constant feeling that the interview is a bit too relaxed and chatty and light, and that it would not be this way for a man who the interviewer did not know. But for the woman there is a more relaxed air, with the man sharing dessert, making brief physical contact, not wanting to see more of her work, and small things like this. The film gives context that the guy is a bit friendly and expressive with others (including a man), but this doesn't hurt the point - because it is not all about this specific interaction but the weight of so many with elements of the same thing.
The film is also subtle in the way that it lets us see that the woman knows what just happened, and sort of felt trapped by it. Would any of us in an interview be willing to speak out against comparatively minor things - no, we'd accept them even as they annoy us. So too does she, and the film ends with a wonderful feeling of the interview being tainted by the way it played out. The performances capture it really well - but in particular Reinsve.
Such a subtle film, and a great one.
Where the film ends though is a slow dolly shot away from the woman as her mood darkens after the interview. This moment is really well done because it clarifies the whole film - or at least for some of us it will, for others the point may have been clear throughout. The 'point' is that the interview is one with a constant reminder that the interviewer is a man, and the interviewee is a younger woman. For many viewers, this may already have been clear but mostly the downside of this dynamic is well played out. There is no 'sexual harassment' in the 'classic' sense but rather just a constant feeling that the interview is a bit too relaxed and chatty and light, and that it would not be this way for a man who the interviewer did not know. But for the woman there is a more relaxed air, with the man sharing dessert, making brief physical contact, not wanting to see more of her work, and small things like this. The film gives context that the guy is a bit friendly and expressive with others (including a man), but this doesn't hurt the point - because it is not all about this specific interaction but the weight of so many with elements of the same thing.
The film is also subtle in the way that it lets us see that the woman knows what just happened, and sort of felt trapped by it. Would any of us in an interview be willing to speak out against comparatively minor things - no, we'd accept them even as they annoy us. So too does she, and the film ends with a wonderful feeling of the interview being tainted by the way it played out. The performances capture it really well - but in particular Reinsve.
Such a subtle film, and a great one.
