WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN | Omeleto

A man is dumped before the wedding. Years later, she shows up at his door -- unannounced. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN is used with permission from Colman Hayes. Learn more at Clara arrives, unannounced, at the doorstep of Brian. Years ago, Clara and Brian were engaged to be married. But a few weeks before the wedding, Clara called it off and she and Brian broke up, breaking Brian’s heart. Both have moved on, with Clara marrying someone else. But now Clara has reappeared in Brian’s life, hoping to reconnect, only to find that time does not heal all wounds. Directed and written by Colman Hayes, this short drama is a snapshot of two people re-encountering one another after years apart. Quiet, observant and restrained, its spare dialogue and strained emotional tenor capture perfectly how the pain of a breakup can still linger and affect us, even years after the fact. Essentially a simple scene between two people in a single location, bookended by shots of Clara alone in her car before and after the conversation, the storytelling nevertheless manages to mine rich emotional terrain within its narrative confines. The visuals themselves have a melancholic bent to them, with cool, muted tones, composed but still framings and little movement. There is a sense of sadness and quiet that endows the film’s atmosphere with a sense of reserve and hesitance -- qualities that match each character’s approach to one another. Much of the heavy lifting comes via the sculpted, precise dialogue. Though it’s often halting and awkward, owing both to the loaded emotional nature of the relationship and perhaps Brian’s stoicism, it nevertheless parses out careful information that illuminates the backstory of Clara and Brian’s relationship, as well as plants clues of what transpired in the years since their parting. Actors Paul Sparkes and George Hanover as Brian and Clara, respectively, deliver subtle and precise performances that work well within the film’s framework of restraint. The conversation between them is a potentially melodramatic situation, but the disciplined dialogue and performances avoid the pitfalls of florid emotion or sentimentality. Both characters are grappling with deep emotion underneath the polite, somewhat chilly surface, and the tension comes not just from seeing if there is still a hope of a spark between them, but whether or not the dams of emotion will break and allow them to say what they truly feel to one another. Many people will relate to the idea of a romantic “what if“ situation, wondering if ending a romance was a mistake and how life would be if it had worked out. Thoughtfully crafted and emotionally perceptive, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN takes that common situation as a jumping-off point for its storytelling, slowly transmuting the dreamy gauze of wistful fantasy into a forensic examination of how romantic wounds linger, even as life goes on. We can move forward but we still carry those sorrows, especially if they remain unresolved and their sting remains sharp, unhealed by time.