Abigail and Becca meet in a café. The mood between the two is tense with something clearly pressing on both. Something has to be done about their flatmate Claire, but neither is sure of what. It is clear she is difficult to look after, but what is the specific problem and what will be the solution they settle on.
About Claire is filmed with one actress in all of the main female parts, with only a body double used where the narrative requires that two characters share the same shot at the same time. We're not sure what is going on but something is tense. At first the film didn't sell it because it did sort of feel like this was done for the actress Lucienne to show that she could play different characters in the same scene; I say this because the contrast was the only thing to hook to and thus it seemed to be the all. Quickly though the two interact well and their tension seems real and justified, even if we do not know why. It is the tension that makes it work and I found the scene pretty engaging. The payoff follows as we understand the nature of their issue with Claire; at this point it is a good payoff but not a great one. I found the delivery of it to be a little muddled and it could have been clearer visually and content-wise to have had more impact. It is a minor quibble though because otherwise it worked.
The performances from Lucienne are good and in particular they work well together, with the scene in the café being the best example where it really never felt like a woman sitting by herself in front of a camera. The construction of the film helps with this – in particular the sound. I liked that the dialogue was consistent and the other noises were controlled to be there but not dominate. I had some issues with the use of sound in the final scene, but only because it was a bit heavy and muddled things briefly. Otherwise the film is good, using the camera and the score to add to the tension convincingly played by the actress. An effectively chilling short.
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