From Omeleto.
A toaster falls in love.
SILVIANA DELUXE 250 is used with permission from Unifrance. Learn more at https://unifrance.org/festivals-et-marches/1275/mymetastories/2025.
Directed by Frida E. Elmstrom, this wryly absurdist short romantic comedy is a tragicomic fable about love, jealousy, and the extremity of devotion. It follows the story of Silviana, a household toaster who is in love with her owner. Each morning, Silviana browns slices of bread with tender devotion, secure in the valuable role she plays in his life. The ritual is perfect — until the day another woman enters the kitchen, and Silviana’s carefully ordered world begins to crumble.
Blending live action with stop-motion animation, the storytelling has a whimsical conceit, but by immersing us in the world and emotions of a humble household toaster, it develops this premise into a sly metaphor for modern domestic relationships, where being taken for granted is devastating. Silviana’s love is based on being seen, used, and needed. When a rival presence disrupts that dynamic, the film unfolds as a miniature heartbreak.
Visually, the film is a small marvel. The stop-motion animation gives Silviana a tactile soulfulness, its tremors and imperfect motions evoking character and even a forlorn vulnerability. Elmstrom’s hybrid aesthetic allows the toaster’s emotional world to exist parallel to the human one, never quite intersecting. The contrast between the living actors and Silviana’s crafted form underscores the source of Silviana’s quiet melancholy: no matter how much the toaster feels, she’s just part of the background for her owner.
Tonally, the storytelling walks a delicate line between humor and heartbreak. The premise invites laughter, but the writing treats Silviana’s emotions with sincerity. The absurd gradually gives way to poignancy as we recognize ourselves in the toaster’s yearning — for recognition, for constancy, for love that endures beyond function. But when Silviana discovers she’s no longer useful to her owner and is discarded without dignity, her love turns into anger.
SILVIANA DELUXE 250 then takes on a comically dark tone, with a turn of the story into thriller territory that explores the limits of devotion, the ache of being replaced, and the bittersweet beauty of loving something — or someone — that cannot love you back in the same way. Going so long without recognition, acknowledgment or affection can twist anyone’s love into rage, it seems.
In partnership with Unifrance and its MyMetaStories festival, Omeleto presents a curated selection of films that embody fearless storytelling, artistic depth and the enduring elegance of French cinema.
