Almodóvar’s short film starring an incandescent Tilda Swinton was inspired by Cocteau’s drama of the same name. In the film, the acclaimed Spanish director takes us through the various stages of grief and loneliness of a woman left by her long-term partner.
Sitting beside the luggage of her former lover (who was supposed to pick them up, but never shows up) and a restless dog who doesn’t seem to understand that the master is gone, the unnamed protagonist is observing the passing of time. During the three days of waiting, she only ever goes outside once–to buy a hatchet and a can of gas.
The film that was made during quarantine touches upon those feelings of isolation, regret, anxiousness and uncertainty that we have all become very familiar with in the last year: is the state we find ourselves in temporary or permanent?
“The Human Voice is all about the muddied lines between the fabricated and the genuine, and about how much a performance can be divorced from the sincere feelings that might be undergirding it.”
– Allison Willmore (Vulture)