Søren Green | En Aften (An Evening) / 2016

before or after

 

Søren Green and Tomas Lagermand Lundme (screenplay), Søren Green (director) En Aften (An Evening) / 2016 [9 minutes]

 

Obviously meant as a follow up to Søren Green’s 2014 film En eftermiddag (An Afternoon), En Aften (An Evening) is only a slightly longer work that takes us to the moments after the two boys of the original, Frederik (Jacob Ottensten) and Mathias (Ulrik Windfeldt-Schmidt), have now sexually consummated their relationship.

     We don’t know if this is their first time together—a direct result of that afternoon meeting when they attempted to sound out one another’s sexual interest—or the ending of one of many of such sexual sessions they have shared. All we do note is that Frederik seems to be troubled, the fact of which Mathias notes, but seems fairly unconcerned. Frederik was moodier even in the first short film, and now seems to be worried about the state of things even more than in the first work where he received the happy news via text from their mutual girlfriend Amalie (Julia Wentzel Olsen) that Mathias was very much interested in him.

      All we can glean is that Mathias seemingly knows how to lure his friend out of his funk, gently touching and stroking him, although at one point Frederik pulls back. And most important, all seems to be fine once he suggests they call for a pizza with all the toppings.

 

       There are two interruptions in their troubled after-sex moments, however, which matter very much in terms of their ongoing relationship, but which we can’t tell whether they are flashbacks or a slip for a few minutes into the future.

        The first appears with Frederik and Mathias sitting on a table which appears to be in the schoolyard, Frederick in the same shirt which he has put on in the earlier scene, waiting, so he tells Mathias for Amalie to stop by. Frederick seems disturbed by what he sees as her intrusion, suggesting that Frederik seems always be with her. A pizza is again ordered, and the boys charmingly spar a bit, as Frederik replies that Amalie’s not his “type,” Matias replying that he couldn’t get her even if he wanted. The two engage in a mock fight the way young boys who enjoy one another’s company often do, engaging in wrestling simply as a subconscious way of being able to put their hands upon the other.

         Amalie comes up to the screen without them knowing and watches for a moment.

         The scene then switches back to the brooding, after-sex scene, which makes the schoolyard clip seem all the more like a flashback, connected by Frederik’s call for pizza.

         There is another such intrusion, however, which picks up where the other left off, this time the boys discovering Amalie’s presence and Mathias going over to her to talk momentarily about her evening plans to attend a movie. He suggests a romantic film for her to see.

          Eventually Frederik joins Mathias, he and Amalie greeting one another, with her responding, “You look cute.” Frederick asks what she means, Amalie replying, “You look cute together.”

          Frederik angrily reacts, “We aren’t cute,” storming off with Mathias following, wondering first what he’s doing and soon after, where is he going. Frederik turns back for a moment to answer: “I just can’t do this,” turning away and walking off with Mathias starring after in confusion.

       

     If this is a flashback, obviously, then the situation has, at least, been temporarily resolved, although Frederik’s behavior hints that he still having problems perhaps accepting himself as one of a “cute” gay couple. But if it is a continuation of his troubled, after-sex brooding, we can only imagine that the two may never be able to actually be a couple, that he is simply not ready for a relationship. The result may be similar, but the fact that they have been able to come together after recontextualizes the entire situation.

       There is no way of knowing. And perhaps their sexual encounter has only reified his lack of surety. But a great deal depends upon whether this is simply his reaction to what has happened to them or a pattern of behavior with which Frederik has learned to accommodate. I think that because the two intruding scenes are filmed in bright sunlight and the after-sex scene is titled “en Aften” that we must presume they have somewhat resolved their problems and may be moving into a new future.

       But they are young boys, after all, and, particularly in Frederik’s case, a full-out commitment to his sexual desires may still be something for which he is not yet ready.

       Interestingly, in the first film it was Frederik who was constantly texting Amalie, while in the second it is Mathias.

       Whatever, one must admit, they do make a cute “couple,” which someday they might recognize is not a put-down but an expression of their beautiful youth.

 

Los Angeles, June 9, 2022

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (June 2022).