It has happened to all of us that when we return home from our work, from university, or from a movie night, the way to her becomes longer and it is because we believe that in any corner something can happen to us.
A whistle, a shout, a compliment… Any good night can end up soured by a complicated return home. The anxiety and fear that a woman can feel when she finds herself alone in the dark of the night is what the French short film aims to reflect Au Bout de la Rue («At the end of the street»).
In the video, with almost no dialogue, the protagonist walks the streets alone at night after partying with some friends. A young man rebukes her and follows her while she ignores him. She leaves him behind, however, from then on all the encounters, although ultimately innocuous, produce a tension that does not end until the young woman does not enter the house.
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“I wanted to show street harassment, which is the most common”Explain Maxim Gaudetdirector of the short film, to Verne. “These things happen and women can’t speak clearly about it because they get the answer: ‘Okay, but nothing has happened to you in the end.’ It’s street harassment, it’s cruel.».
Guadet, 28, came up with the idea of recording this short film after a run-in in the street when he was with his girlfriend and her mother. “A worker who was on the street insulted them for no reason, and went back to work as if nothing had happened”Explain. “Of course, I had heard a lot of stories from friends before, but that moment made me very aware of it. I realized how worrying it is to be insulted for no reason when you’re just living your life, and how helpless you are in the face of it.».
The short film Gaudet it ends with the main character arriving home and, when her boyfriend asks her how things are going, she answers that she’s fine. “I wanted to show that girls live it every day”Explain, «And that’s why sometimes they don’t even name him». It wasn’t like that in the first version of the short: «When I first wrote the script, the girl came home more upset by what had happened»recognize. “But when I showed it to the girls around me, they told me that the leading lady shouldn’t be so shocked. It happens so much, that she has become something normal ”.
Taken from Verne