anywhere out of the world: English tea time in Transylvania: SCARBOROUGH

Scarborough, on the Northeastern shore of England,
is no longer a popular holiday destination.

The English town is nowadays
a monument to lost enamel.

The majestic and abandoned rooms
of the Grand Hotel
overlooking the North Sea
testify of it.

At its Reception Desk, first Liz,
and then Aiden
receive the keys of their rooms.

They declare to be alone.

Yet they find themselves,
during a trip in the elevator,
each one clinging to a younger lover.

Over the course of a weekend,

two love stories intersect and merge, forbidden and marked,

mirroring one another.

The couples game is balanced.

Both Liz(Jodhi May)
and Aiden( Edward Hogg)
are teachers.

They struggle with their intense and problematic loves for sixteen-year-old Daz (Jordan Bolger)

and Beth(Jessica Barden),
two uninhibited,feisty teens,

who are still filled with the adolescent exuberance

of those who have yet to be

disappointed or betrayed.

Overflowing with vital ingenuity,

the two youngsters represent
a romantic and sensual ideal

that begs to be lived.

Yet at the same time

it requires to be hidden
from puritan eyes.

As there is not only age
to complicate things.

But also the fact
that every couple

is composed of
a professor and his/her student.

In the first part of the film
the two stories are echoeing,

between the Victorian bare walls of the hotel.

They repeat the same fragments of dialogue

between men and women.

The result
is an intriguing reflection
on gender dynamics.

Here the words
leave viewers
free to appreciate
the enormous differences

radiated on tone,
gestures,
bodies.

In addition, of course,
to the balance of POWER
within the relationships.

Six years ago the Director Barnaby Southcombe started out as a film director
with the noir "I, Anna",
presented at the Berlinale.

"This is a hot topic
but someone has to talk about it -
said Barnaby Southcombe
when I discussed with him
last week
at the 2019 Transylvania International Film Festival. -

For me it is very important to focus
on the fact that love
is a totally subjective concept
and always the target of criticism
from the outside,
especially if a relationship is
socially unacceptable "

" But the relationships shown in the film
are clearly sexual
and show adults struggling with partners
who are just of age", said I.

"There is a difference for me
between pedophilia
and consensual relationship,

but in a relationship between student and teacher there is a line that should not be crossed.

I was interested in going beyond it
and focusing on the emotions
of this relationship:
what is important to those involved?

How is this relationship analyzed
after so many years have passed?

Presenting two couples struggling
with the same dynamics
allowed me
to analyze this topic
in two different moments".

-"It is interesting to me that in the film
there are the younger partners
who are pushing
to keep the relationship going.
At one point,
the young boy is even ready
to take responsibility
for having a child
with his forty-year-old teacher.", I notified.

..."At 16 you think you are
in full control
of your thoughts and your body,
but in the end you understand
that it is not really so.

I liked the ideea of exploring the experience of a FORBIDDEN LOVE
and how the young protagonists
totally trust their own judgment.
A temporary thing."

-"I noticed that the camera focuses more on women:
the female student in love with her teacher,
and the woman teacher loved by her student."

" I'm more interested in telling the story
of a woman,
we already have too many
male references
in our cinema.

As a director, however,
I want to continue to explore
the fragility of human beings,
and tell them in the moment
of full awareness:
they know very well
that they are doing something wrong
but they cannot stop.

Some have a facade that seems stronger
than others,

but the truth is
that we are all
fragile

in the end".