Céline Roustan

Ah… Summer love! We know it must inevitably end, but Vicky isn’t ready to let go yet. When Stacey arrives to drive her soon-to-be ex to the train station, Vicky uses that last moment together to fight for their love. With My Condolences To Your Future Lovers, writer/director Jessica Dowse paints a picture of young love and how idealistic, genuine, and dramatic it can be in that liminal time before life catches up and bursts the happy bubbles we spend time and effort creating. 

With such a universal premise we were not surprised when Dowse (quickly) confessed to us that the film is based on her own first breakup, “Cliche, I know…!” she concedes. Her initial aim was for a film built around a single conversation, and, plumbing her memory, she offers that “this was the most intense one I could remember!” With that inspiration established, it is no surprise that the authenticity of the screenplay is easily apparent to the viewer—though, for entertainment’s sake, a bit over-dramatic. Still, we all remember how passionate we were (still are?) during those formative years of early adulthood, and throughout the erstwhile lovers’ outbursts of emotion, Dowse subtly adds a thematic layer that complicates the conversation’s overt sincerity—one that is only seen when we have the required distance from the situation. While Vicky is determined to fight for the relationship, she is also engaged in trying to convince herself of its legitimacy, and that of all the romantic, and positively cliché, memories the pair had created together—an endeavor takes on heightened importance as it becomes clear that Stacey is, perhaps, not terribly comfortable with her sexuality. 

While the screenplay is the central component of the film’s appeal, aspects of the film’s craft are thoughtfully done in order to heighten the experience of the conversation. Notably, the film is shot in a single-take. While this technique has been often used in recent years to allow the camera to move through complicated scenes in a show of directing virtuosity, here Dowse and her DP, Oscar Partridge, utilize it in an almost opposite fashion, trapping us into the present moment and not allowing even a single cut to provide relief from the awkwardness or intensity of Vicky and Stacey’s drama. It also forces a framing that includes both subjects, and while focus-pulling is used to direct audience attention, the ability to perceive both performances at the same time is essential to the audience’s appreciation of the different ways the two women are reacting to their imminent separation.

Shot single-take, the cinematography is simple, but effective, in showcasing the film’s performances.

With such a simple premise and staging, the performances are vital to the film and their quality is what ultimately makes the film so emotionally compelling. Dowse was keenly aware of the importance of her performers noting to us that, “my aim was to use a one-shot to elevate (the film) cinematically, but mainly to really champion the performances”. Both Megan Walker as Stacey and Alexandra Hannant as Vicky embody their characters and the breakup with sensitivity. Importantly, despite the fireworks of their disagreement, a natural chemistry is perceived—we easily can picture how they both got swept up in their Summer fling in the first place. Yet, as the conversation goes on, we also see their differences, and the fundamental mismatch in attitude that will divide them.

A film from 2020, My Condolences To Your Future Lovers was a hit at UK festivals like Underwire and Aesthetica. Since it’s completion, Dowse has been busy developing several projects, including three upcoming short films that all deal with love and its wreckage. She is also working in the episodic format, developing The Medicated Buddhists, a TV project with a provocative pitch in which “Daffy leads a gang of nihilistic, hedonist Gen-Z’ers in a riotous battle to stick it to the rich elite and desecrate all they value. Caught between this anonymous gang and her political family, Daffy happily leads a double life until her worlds start to collide”. Good luck!