The Absence, 3 minutes 16 seconds, 2018. Written, produced, directed, cinematography and edited by Junting Zhou.
A fantasy of missed connection on the subway, or is it miscommunication? The Absence combine the cinematographic fantasy with Roland Barthes's brilliant insight of the psychological behavior of love. It explore the possibility of multi interpretation for a poetic short film.
The Absence
text by Roland Barthes, edited by Junting Zhou
Sometimes I have no difficulties enduring the absence of the “beloved person”. Then I am normal. I fall in with the way everyone endures the departure of the loved one. It is nothing more or less than forgetfulness. I am, intermittently, unfaithful. This is the condition of my survival; for if I did not forget, I should die. The lover who doesn’t forget sometimes dies of excess, exhaustion, and tension of memory. A Buddhist Koan says: The master holds the disciple’s head underwater for a long, long time; gradually, the bubbles become fewer. At the last moment, the master pulls the disciple out and revives him. When you have craved truth as you crave air, then you will know what truth is. The absence holds my head underwater, gradually I drown my air supply gives out. It is by this asphyxia that I reconstitute my truth And that I prepare what in love is Intractable.