Meet Me En Rêve, directed by Vancouver-based actor Bethany Brown (F**k, Marry, Kill), takes a brisk but illuminating look at one woman’s contentious inner life. Navigating the tension between fantasy and reality, and what the gulf separating the two can reveal about our true desires, Brown’s debut short film picks apart one woman’s desperate struggle with her true identity.
The film opens as Ella (Jessica Harmon) shares a dreamily intimate encounter with a mysterious woman. Despite the clarity of her desire (and the pleasure it brings her), the encounter is somehow both passionate, and oddly chaste. Waking from the fantasy to reveal her actual companion – the gregarious but clueless Eric (Alessandro Miro) – her disappointment is written all over her face.
As her disappointment gives way to simmering hostility, one has to wonder what Ella is doing with this man she seems to loathe. On the surface they seem a suitable pair, both outwardly successful and attractive, but despite a prickly familiarity, the couple lacks connection. Eric is the kind of friendly but oblivious guy who seems quite pleased with himself most of the time, whether pontificating about treating himself to a “nice dark roast” or nitpicking his girlfriend’s memory of the serial killer documentary they watched together last night. Chuckling away any whisper of his partner’s dissatisfaction, he’s more than happy to skate along the surface of life, unbothered by any kind of deeper introspection.
Ella, on the other hand, seems haunted by her lack of control over her inner life. Her fantasies have started getting the better of her, and she is constantly on edge throughout the film. Beautiful and outwardly self-assured to an icy degree, her ill-temper serves as a defense mechanism, the protective shell of someone fighting with all they have against admitting to themselves (or anyone else) who they really are.
As the couple approach their local coffee shop Ella seems increasingly agitated, and as we spot Riley (Aria DeMaris), the star of Ella’s fantasies, we soon understand why. As Riley prepares Ella’s latte, she tries in vain to fend off yet another fantasy. With the object of her deeply buried desire right in front of her, the passion inside her mounts as she slips into her mind’s eye. Desperate not to give in, Ella twists the fantasy from one of passion to one of violence, wrapping her hands around Riley’s neck and squeezing the life from her, screaming into the mirror at a vision of herself she is clearly unwilling to accept.
Abruptly ripped from the fantasy by Riley calling her name, she is gripped in nearly imperceptible panic as she approaches the counter. When the attractive young woman’s hand accidentally brushes her own, it proves too much to handle, and she explodes with anger. Knocking her drink to the ground, she screams at the innocent young woman: How dare she touch her! She’s not… but she can’t even bring herself to even utter the words aloud, and she flees, much to the confused Eric’s chagrin. What about his frappuccino?
Later, Ella finds herself crying alone, bathed in the beautiful light of a coastal sunset. When Eric finds her, she starts to open up, saying she has something she needs to tell him. Did that dramatic moment in the café provide her the cathartic release she needed? Is this the moment she finally admits what she really wants? Perhaps not, as Eric defuses the tension with a characteristically dumb joke and they sit, holding hands, in companionable silence.
As the film meanders to a close, Ella and Eric wander back into the café (now transformed into a late-night music venue) as Riley performs. Ella is holding a bouquet, but it is unclear whom they’re meant for. Are they an olive branch to the woman she pines for? Or a gift from Eric, an indication that she’s chosen to ignore her feelings and stay the course? One last shot reveals the two women in the same bedroom that opened the film, but is this reality? Or yet another fantasy? Brown leaves it to the audience to decide.
Meet Me En Rêve was awarded Best LGBT Short Film at the 2024 Markham International Film Festival.
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