About
WHEN A LESBIAN COUPLE’S ELECTRICITY IS CUT OFF, AMIDST SOARING ENERGY COSTS, THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS AND CLIMATE BREAKDOWN, THEY ARE FORCED INTO TAKING ABSURDIST AND MORALLY CONFLICTING MEASURES TO STAY WARM.
IF YOU CAN ONLY ONE CRISIS, THE COST OF LIVING WILL ALWAYS TRUMP CLIMATE CHANGE.
As their prepaid electricity meter runs out while Jo is in the shower, Milly rushes to the shop to charge it with credit, making the difficult choice between buying essential but vegan groceries or charging the electricity meter. She compromises on getting some groceries and just enough credit to survive on. However, when she watches the dwindling pennies of the meter go down in real-time, she decides to keep it a secret from Jo.
To hide the fact, Milly proposes to conserve energy by highlighting their consumeristic privilege. The couple unplugs unnecessary devices and Milly attempts to romanticise their circumstances by indulging in candlelit baths and huddling for warmth. But when confused Jo wakes to the freezing flat, she enquiries about the meter, leading to a heated argument about their values and compromises – Milly’s realism and Jo’s unwavering stance. The couple faces a moment of despair, when their passion for living sustainably threatens to leave them unable to sustain themselves.
Eventually, led to extremes, they tear out a walled-up fireplace. As they reconnect, they realise their priorities. Together, they embark on a night-time adventure, using their iPhones as makeshift torches, and gather varnished curbside wooden furniture to burn, despite the risks.
In the end, after the wood runs out and pushed to the limit, Jo abandons her environmental principles in a darkly funny twist and throws all their recycling, including toxic plastic, into the fire. This absurd, desperate decision becomes the final straw. In a quiet neighbourhood, a single flickering window represents Jo and Milly’s resilience and preserved warmth.
The story is based on a photography series 'Cold Times' by Jana Hunterová as part of NOOR, an intensive workshop focusing on Visualising Climate Change.
Black and white thinking is a luxury we can no longer afford.
There is an urgent need for a conversation about the choices we are compelled to make versus the choices we can genuinely afford and this film aspires to pry open the doors of this discourse wider.