52 Films by Women Vol 8. 36. This Closeness (Director: Kit Zauhar)

Pictured: Tessa (Kit Zauhar) inspects her temporary lodgings in a scene from the 2023 American independent drama, 'This Closeness', written, directed and starring Kit Zauhar. Still courtesy of Factory 25.

Normally, I would advocate for every film to be screened in a cinema, to be enjoyed as a collective experience, discussed and dissected accordingly. However, This Closeness, written, directed and starring Kit Zauhar (her second feature), is almost designed to be watched on a laptop (as I saw it) with the sound broadcast through headphones. It is a film in which the action is confined to a two-bedroom apartment, which has one bathroom with a shower and a kitchen-diner. You get to know most of the spaces pretty well, so by the end you could draw a floorplan and probably put it on the market. Some films make you experience something real; this one turns you into a realtor.

The scene that really comes alive at home occurs when the socially awkward, reluctant host Adam (Ian Edlund) is given a set of a headphones by house guest Tessa (Zauhar) who then proceeds to tap on the sides of what looks like a speaker with plastic, stick-on replica ears. We hear Tessa’s voice as Adam hears it. Later he asks Tessa to repeat the experience. Tessa offers him something else.

Tessa makes a modest living with her videos that encourage relaxation. She does to her followers what ‘Test Match Special’ played late at night does for me. Not complain about a reckless dismissal – there was never a run there – rather reduces stress and enables sleep. Her specialism is ASMR – Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response – which, according to one definition, is ‘a physical and psychological experience that combines pleasurable and relaxing sensations in response to specific stimuli’ (see https://www.repsol.com/en/energy-and-the-future/people/asmr/index.cshtml). It helps that she has a soothing voice. She’s a therapist, one who (somewhat predictably) needs therapy herself.

This Closeness comes with an intimacy warning. It certainly challenges you to think about your relationship or, more particularly, the way in which you might permit your ego to be flattered by others in the presence of your partner. If you are very sensitive, you might fend off compliments and clutch your partner like they are your rock; can’t you see I’m with someone now? The person giving the compliments is testing limits. At a certain age, everyone is unhappy and insecure. If you like the look of someone, you want to test how much? Or rather you do when you’re young. When you’re older, you clasp your partner to stop yourself falling over. Your partner won’t let you forget about it for days.

Zauhar has made a young person’s film and examines their concerns. Like staying in an Air BnB that looks different from the pictures; one in which the host (Adam) is still living. For a few days Tessa and her partner Ben (Zane Pais) enjoy the shared use of the aforementioned two-bedroom apartment while Ben attends a High School reunion. Tessa is not keen on being seen as Ben’s status update. She has her own plan, to make a video with Ben’s high school friend, Lizzy (Jessie Pinnick). However, there are certain issues to contend with, such as the air conditioning in their room. Adam explains that the room gets pretty hot; Lance had the AC on all the time. However, Ben doesn’t want Tessa to get a chill. He and Adam remove it, Adam cutting his hand in the process.

The walls in the apartment are thin. Periodically, Tessa and Ben will be in full flow and Zauhar will cut to the bespectacled Adam cowering in his room. Adam hasn’t figured out a way to be around people. He didn’t list the room. It was his roommate Lance’s idea. Lance has had to go away for a while following a bereavement. Adam is in a state of domestic dislocation, missing his best friend. As he explains to Tessa, Lance makes everyone around him seem special. He is the guy that people look forward to seeing, Adam not so much. That said, he socialises with an ‘ultimate frisbee’ group. I’m not sure tossing pieces of plastic at great distances counts as sociable, but that’s Zauhar’s point. The ‘ultimate’ part is a desperate attempt to brand an activity as edgy.

Adam certainly isn’t confident and does his best to stay out of Tessa and Ben’s way. He works in his room editing sports videos (promos, etc) for a local broadcaster and has a deadline. He actually has something in common with Tessa, working in visual media. Tessa met Ben when the latter was researching an article on ASMR. Tessa is perceived by others as successful, making a ‘ton of money’. Ben explains to Lizzy that though she has lots of followers that does not mean people like her, they just like what she does. Talk about a backhanded compliment.

The title has multiple meanings, from the hot weather and atmosphere in the guest bedroom to near misses (getting ‘this close’) to a contemplation of physical and emotional intimacy. It also refers to Tessa’s broadcasts, where the ‘sound appears to come from inside your head’. That would be your thoughts turning into speech, or a sneeze. At any rate, when Tessa communicates to Adam through headphones we experience her voice as if addressed to us alone, which is perhaps as close as things get, so much so that Adam wants to experience it again and is willing to pay.

The day after they settle in, Ben fetches Tessa an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich, appearing to mock her for preferring an iced coffee rather than the hot kind, something of a red flag. Tessa is angry that Ben didn’t see that Lizzy was flirting with him. She is upset by his attachment to nostalgia. Ben throws the iced coffee at her, then says he’s going out. ‘I’m not cleaning it up,’ insists Tessa. No wonder Adam is nervous. In an earlier scene, Adam notices the water on the linoleum, including where Tessa’s briefs had slid off the toilet. Ben and Tessa are messy guests. They complain that the towels ‘smell funny’. Couldn’t they have brought their own?

Adam learns how to be a host, dividing the fridge down the middle between host and guest. You might expect the guests to be given their own shelf but as Adam explains there is space for larger items this way and each half is indicated by a sign. What seems weird to Tessa and Ben is logical to Adam, but the couple is disturbed by Adam’s lack of interest in them when they arrive, as if co-habitation is something to endure. He walks in on Tessa and Lizzy while they are shooting a video. Tessa narrates her actions, applying a cream on her hands before giving Lizzy a massage, Lizzy just sitting down trying to be an expressionless as possible. We see one strap of Lizzy’s dress fall from her shoulder. Tessa’s hand moves towards Lizzy’s breast (she doesn’t narrate that part). We wonder where the massage might go. Then Adam opens his door.

In one scene, Tessa points out the mess that Ben and Lizzy left behind. ‘That’s your mess as well,’ Ben replies, ‘you contributed to it’ with her one beer. It used to be that you could tell what kind of partner a person might be by watching them with their parents. Nowadays you can tell by watching how they act as guests.

Tessa spends time getting to know something about Adam after Lizzy brings Ben back home drunk. The pair say ‘love you’ to one another in a light comic way, which nevertheless stings Tessa. She decides to sleep on the sofa but is awakened by Adam returning from ultimate frisbee. She asks him about his relationships. He had one girlfriend briefly who complained that he was around her too much. We see Adam through Tessa’s eyes, unsure whether he is too psychologically damaged to keep a girlfriend. In response to his request for small audio dynamite, so to speak, she gives him a message. Then Ben (miraculously awake and no longer drunk) walks in.

Pictured: A scene from 'This Closeness', a drama written, directed and starring Kit Zauhar; still features Ben (Zane Pais) and Tessa (Zauhar). Courtesy of Factory 25.

The climax of the film features two intimate scenes, one between Tessa and Ben, the other between Adam and his Asian date. Adam encourages the young woman to be loud. He knows he is competing with Ben. He also hits her leg, then apologises for hurting her. The scene between them briefly makes you wonder whether she consents – her response to him is ‘ok’. She leaves silently, not even acknowledging Tessa who watches her leave. It is clear that she is there to prove a point. Adam calls Lance to brag. ‘I took her to a restaurant near the apartment, just as you suggested.’ In their forgiveness chat, both Ben and Tessa wonder whether Lance is imaginary. However, in talking about him, Adam made Tessa cry.

There is one scene outside the apartment which invites us to consider whether the last few days have been a turning point. Certainly they have for Adam, though he has still some maturing to do. As for Tessa, we see doubt, as if she is briefly aware that love and desire are two different emotions and that relationships shouldn’t involve flying coffee. What the two sex scenes have in common is placation, not love.

Reviewed on Mubi Home Streaming Service, Monday 26 August 2024