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What does love look like? In mainstream film and television, it usually means grand gestures, dramatic fallings out and reunions – and all of these highs and lows navigated by people with remarkable facial symmetry, of course. The short documentary Couple in a Room Smoking Cigarettes (2020) invites viewers to bear witness to a less romantic, although, for many around the world, perhaps more relatable form of love. Following Jadwiga and Wiesław Wójcikowie over the course of a day, Katarzyna Gondek, a Polish-born filmmaker based in Belgium, offers a close-up look at the quotidian routines that define their lives together. Taking place wordlessly and entirely within the confines of their apartment, the rhythms of toe-tapping, song-humming, snoring, coffee-drinking and, as the title promises, the lighting of many a cigarette, become mesmerising as the film unfolds. With a soft focus, sharp edits and close attention to the sounds of everyday life, the production finds an unlikely poetry in the unremarkable paces of the couple’s partnership.
Director: Katarzyna Gondek
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