From Omeleto.
A woman meets her brother’s girlfriend.
AUDREY is used with permission from Julianna Robinson. Learn more at https://juliannarobinson.com.
Connor is having dinner with his sister Meredith and her partner Rex. He’s going to introduce his new girlfriend Audrey to his sister, and Meredith and Rex are curious about who Connor has chosen.
But Connor’s new romantic interest is unusual, and Meredith is uncertain how to handle the situation. So they play along until they can figure out what’s happening with Connor.
Directed by Julianna Robinson from a script co-written with Sean Kohnen, this darkly comic short dramedy is all about curveballs and how we handle them. It begins much like a slice-of-life narrative, with warm, darkly muted cinematography and the anticipation of a family dinner. But then Meredith and the audience get their first curveball: Connor’s girlfriend is on the unusual side.
Some of the humor derives from how Meredith and Rex handle the wacky situation, but generally, the emotional stakes remain grounded. Meredith is concerned and even angry at Connor’s life choice, especially when Connor throws another curveball at Meredith: he tells her he’s proposing to Audrey with the same family wedding ring that she wanted for her wedding to Rex.
The tension between the odd situation and the commitment to normality seems to build, and as an audience, we’re expecting a big blowup. But through a genuinely romantic lyrical interlude, we see Connor is sincerely in love with Audrey, despite her limitations, and he seems genuinely happy and content.
Meredith and Rex continue to play along, but Meredith can’t keep up the charade. As Meredith, actor Abby Eiland plays an older sister who is both terrified and horrified by what she sees as her brother’s descent into mental illness, while actor Alina Phelan as Rex is more accommodating and willing to play along. As Connor, actor Greg Smith plays a deeply real and heartfelt affection and tenderness for Audrey, one he is unwilling to budge upon. When he and Meredith outright collide over the question of Audrey’s role in his life, it erupts into a shockingly tense and emotionally violent encounter.
The ending of AUDREY throws us a final curveball, one that is surprisingly wrenching and heartbreaking, considering the premise and the comedy earlier in the film. The question of Connor’s love and who and what she is becomes more a question of whether or not he and his sister can see the situation in the same way, enough to come to some common ground, understanding or connection. Much familial conflict comes from the clash of two different ways of seeing reality. The last few shots of the film keep the idea of this shared reality an ambiguous one. But what is clear is the emotional damage and devastation done.
