AllMovie

This short from documentary and experimental filmmaker Johan van der Keuken explores the theories and effects in conveying information and emotion through film. It consists of three renderings of a woman writing a letter to her husband while on vacation. The first has the woman narrating as she writes. In one fluid take the camera glides from the wife at a desk to the husband reading the letter from another desk and then back to the wife, emphasizing the connection forged by the letter. The second, Carl Dreyer-like, is made up of close-ups of the woman writing, her feet, a radio, then the husband, highlighting their isolation from each other. The third contains no narration; the mood of what is happening is conveyed through music, sound effects, and symbolic representations of the couple's relationship. We see the actors and their shadows embracing and pulling apart, the husband opens and closes his palm, close ups of their faces, the screen is split in dark and light, there is a recurring sound of ocean swells, and an image of sun dappled water. Despite the lack of any literal explanation, the third portion seems to more powerfully convey the nature of the husband and wife's relationship.