sunday sleep-in
by Douglas Messerli
Jordi Estapé and Marc Vilajuana (screenwriters
and director) Diumenge (Sunday) / 2012 [14 minutes]
For young students Marc (Marc Vilajuana) and
his girlfriend Carla (Sara Tafalla), as their teacher Claudi announces to the
class on the first day of their senior year, it’s not going to be an easy, but
a difficult year. They’re in a period of change, he warns them, “A period of
new things, new experiences….”
One
of those sudden changes appears almost mid-sentence in Claudi’s speech with the
appearance of a handsome new student, Max (Enric González) who’s not even sure
if he’s in the right room. Because he’s so handsome, Carla is already convinced
that the new kid is gay, and by the time of their first recess, four class
thugs have already chosen to bully the newcomer.
Max is
also intrigued by Marc, whom discovers lives just a short distance from him,
and the two quickly become friends. As they walk home together, Marc apologizes
for the thugs, while Max suggests they may have already spotted him as being
gay, openly admitting his sexuality. As they turn to move on in different
directions, Marc’s look back at his new friend suggests he’s more than a little
bit interested in Max. And at home we see him trying to check out Max on his
computer.
By
the very next day, the teacher announces that the next assignment will be for
his students to write a paper on “globalization.” Gathering them into groups of
three, includes Marc, Max, and Alex (Alex Duran), the latter the head to the
gang that bullied Max the previous day. In fact, Alex refuses to join the group
because he does perceive the others as gay. Most of the students negatively
react, but he answers in his ill-informed defense, “Homosexuality is like an
illness; when you get close to it you can become infected.” He and Max get into
a verbal row, forcing Claudi to send Alex to the school principal.
In
a nearby conference room, Claudi is lecturing Alex about his behavior, the
message he sends only encourages just such attitudes: “I know that [being gay]
can make you feel uncomfortable…”
Contrapuntally, Max discusses his long-time problems in being
gay, which previously resulted in attacks on him, his family, and later even
his friends. He had thought a change of schools might make things better.
“People don’t accept me,” he tells Marc.
Back in the conference room, Claudi continues to reinforce the heart of
the problem in his behavior, continuing with the sentence, “It’s normal that
this kind of people could annoy you!”
In
the bathroom, Marc moves forward with a handkerchief, whipping Max’s nose and
eyes before impulsively moving in for a kiss. The two boys hug, and at that
very moment one of Alex’s gang enters to observe them.
Without a beat the boys decide to meet up that Sunday to work on the
paper they’ve been assigned.
When Carla meets up with her boyfriend, she demands to know what’s going
on with Max, finally forcing the question: “Do you like him?”
His silence leads her to quickly walk away from him. The homophobia that
rots human relationships has begun its rounds.
In
Marc’s bedroom, he’s marked off the days until Sunday, obviously impatient for
the meetup and getting to know Max better. And we can almost feel his
excitement and fears when the door finally buzzes.
Unfortunately, Catalan writers/directors Estapé and Vilajuana seemingly
ran out of money, energy, or simply ideas, and instead of taking their short
film to a new level or even a different one, they send Max to the door to
report his father has found a new job and his family will be leaving in a day
or so.
It seems highly unbelievable that having just arrived in the city, his
father would relocate again a few months later; one has to presume that he has
decided to take his son to yet another location where his sexuality won’t be
known. One might wish to grant the authors credit for not simply providing us
with another correct thinking or educationally elucidative moment. But in not
permitting their young heroes to develop some other solution to the surrounding
homophobia, they are just as guilty, in some respects, as the teacher Claudi
in permitting the seemingly inevitable ending to once more be played out. And
it now leaves Marc all alone to face the backlash for the already brave
decisions he has made. Perhaps the filmmakers might have, at least, taken us in
that direction and explored how this intelligent and loving human being might
adapt.
As
it is, we can only feel like the narrative of a promising film was simply
chopped of before its creators had an opportunity to fully take the voyage that
Marc had been willing to travel, just as if the tornado tearing through
Dorothy’s farm in The Wizard of Oz suddenly turned a corner, leaving her
safely asleep in a Kansas bed.
Los Angeles, November 9, 2023 / Reprinted from World Cinema Review (November 2023).
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