Gyre (2019)

Directed by: Charlotte Lybaert | 19 minutes | short film, drama | Actors: Alice de Broqueville, Maïmouna Badjie

Going to camp with classmates or fellow students: it is exciting in every age category. Whether you’re going out without parents for the first time as a toddler, or when you’re nearing adulthood, sharing a bedroom with a stranger means they can watch you sleep and shower. You are at your most vulnerable. In addition, it is a break in the daily ritual. All this means that some people see it as a mountain or that the experience itself becomes a disappointment.

In ‘Gyre’ we follow seventeen-year-old Alice (Alice de Broqueville) as she moves into a shared room with Maïmouna. It is not clear exactly what the relationship between the two is, whether they are friends or just happen to be two classmates or teammates, but that does not matter for the story. The purpose of the camp also remains vague, the girls are eating at a large table, there are sports activities like climbing outside, but the leadership remains out of the picture.

We experience some seemingly insignificant situations from Alice’s point of view, but it is clear from the camera work and the music that these incidents have more value for the girl than for the other. Borrowing an item of clothing unsolicited, for example. Charlotte Lybaert adds a few scenes with a black and white dog for the sake of secrecy, which reinforces the mysterious symbolism of the story in a somewhat Lynchian way. Nice debut and it makes us curious about the next film by this young Flemish filmmaker.