In this dialogue-less film set in Amsterdam, one young woman becomes obsessed with another. Hama (Imaan Hammam), who is of Arab descent, attracts the attention of Naomi (Sammy Boonstra), a pale waif, at various urban locations, including a pool and a train. A lulling jazz score, dominated by spare piano and late-night saxophone, serves as the soundtrack for these observation sessions, while Polish director Urszula Antoniak frequently cuts away to close-ups of water droplets rolling down feminine curves. These glimpses of Naomi’s fantasies turn out to be scenes from a ladies’ sauna (the only nudity in the film). In addition to their physical differences, Antoniak intimates class and religious differences, as Hama, a waitress, wears a hijab. Naomi, who has no discernible vocation, lives in an expensive-looking house and appears more isolated than Hama (who sometimes travels with a group of friends). Naomi eventually sends her crush object a vague, if admiring letter. Until this point, the voyeurism feels like harmless wishful thinking, but when Naomi appears to humiliate Hama at her place of employment, Naomi becomes less sympathetic. Naomi imagines the pair spending time together afterward, hitting the town in matching satin dresses, with Hama’s woman’s headscarf entering into these fantasies in ways that seem fetishistic. Everything flows through the eyes of the more privileged character, although the ending suggests that that was the point all along. So little happens in this film that it might have worked better as a short, but it does score points for originality and the tech credits are consistently first-rate. A strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)
Nude Area
Film Movement, 78 min., not rated, DVD: $24.99 Volume 34, Issue 3
Nude Area
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