BLACK BOX | Omeleto

A woman tries to rekindle her marriage.

A woman lives with her husband in a well-appointed home linked to a voice assistant named Ophelia. But the couple is having problems, with the husband being cold and distant, locking himself away in the basement of their home.

On their anniversary, she wants to take a trip to the mountains and rekindle their marriage, but her husband is uninterested. Instead, he goes to his work in the basement, upsetting his wife, who tries to get into the basement. But she's barred from that room, exacerbating her feelings of loneliness. Left to her own devices once more, the wife manages to find her way into the basement, where she discovers the dark secret of her marriage.

Directed by Nicole Sofia with a script co-written by Sofia with Clara Gehl, this short sci-fi drama has flourishes of advanced tech in its characters' interaction with an omniscient voice assistant. But in its emphasis on the wife's emotional landscape, it also unfolds a deftly crafted dark relationship drama about love, obsession and grief at its most dysfunctional, asking questions about selfishness, relationships and what it means to love.

Both strands of the film's genres are served by the moody, darkly muted color palette and clean, almost antiseptic lighting, emphasizing the barrenness of the couple's life together. The only spot of visual joy comes from the view outside the window, which is controlled by voice assistant Ophelia. Ophelia also seems to be the only real interaction the wife has, especially since her husband seems thoroughly uninterested in her.

The dialogue painfully captures this cold, even cruel dynamic, as the wife attempts to be loving and agreeable and the husband barely acknowledges her presence, needs or attempts to reach out to him. Actor Brittany Howatt plays the wife with a natural sympathy, full of yearning for an emotionally richer connection to her husband, played by actor Cansin Duman in a tricky balancing act of detachment, exasperation and a feeling of already moving on from the relationship. Driven to understand what is going on, the wife finds her way into the basement, where she confronts just who she is and what she means to her husband.

In many ways, BLACK BOX is a classic riff on the fairytale of Bluebeard, in which a young woman investigates the "black box" of her husband's inner life and discovers his true darkness at her own peril. While the well-paced, engaging narrative works on its own as a relationship drama, its intersection with the possibilities and concepts of A.I. also provokes thought and discussion of power in relationships. Are the wife's feelings real, and therefore deserving of consideration? Can or should we discard imperfections so quickly? Whose happiness takes precedence over another's? The chilling ending of BLACK BOX bodes for a new chapter in an ongoing relationship, but it leaves us with these uneasy questions after the screen goes dark.

[natalialenchuk]

It's seems to have a double meaning, IMO. Sometimes people don't like the person their partners become over the years, and they keep 'killing' them by being rude, demanding, indifferent and so on in an attempt to get back the one they fell in love with. Longing for that older version to come back and failing every time. Refusing to admit it's probably them (partly, of course) responsible for that change. A vicious circle, for both.

[Local_Gems]

The way she is more human than the human 😍❤️

[christinek]

Spoiler alert……


Maybe he is attempting to build a replacement wife without negative human qualities. He asked “You don’t like it here?” And stated “You’re far too emotional.” Perhaps he murdered his human wife in a fit of rage bc she wasn’t what he deemed the ideal partner. The cycle will continue with him “killing” his wives unless/until she is “perfect.”

[garymason]

How can an imperfect being create a perfect one?

[myviews]

His love language is gifts and her love language is quality time.

[syamilysasi]

At first when her hand was wounded, there was no blood. She couldn't have felt any pain, but still she jumps and jerks her hand away to examine. She is totally immersed in the pseudo reality created around her. I think when he says she is faulty, he means that she is turning into a human being. He doesn't want her to be same as his wife, he just wants an updated version of her, who is filtered off all the things he doesn't like in her.

[IRosamelia]

I knew she was a robot when I saw how orderly she sliced fruit

[ashecbtb]

I get the whole philosophical thing, but at the end of the day his character was the perfect representation of a Narcissist.

[MundoFrancesOficial]

It seems to me that there's a Shakespearean reference there, considering the "Alexa" is called Ophelia and there is a painting of a hand holding a skull on the wall.

[svietka]

he doesn't say good morning to her, she forgets anniversary and doesn't thank him for the present...
you know right away something is totally upside down

[BucurEST]

"This project is the most important thing to me." How often do we put our loved ones to the side, placing them as secondary. Why we see rise in divorces.

[zantas-handle]

I'm so tired of people throwing around the terms 'narcissist' and 'gaslighting', and especially to blame men. This guy isn't being narcissistic towards the female - the female is NOT REAL, and IT is defective. If he seems cold towards it, that's partly why, but also - he's GRIEVING! Dressed in black, pale, sad and obsessing about bring his wife back - he's in pain. But people are so indoctrinated by current politics though, they'll even take the side of an android against a grieving man who's obviously struggling with his wife's death and is facing it ALONE. Jeez!

[randysmith]

I think this says more about him than about his wife or their marriage. It's his world and he is the one that needs to be adapted to.

[DocBree]

Still a much better marriage than mine was

[theeclectic]

The truth is, you can program other humans with your behavior and the things you say to them. Especially spouses.

[Mister_Samuel_T_Owen]

This was a FANTASTIC short. The lighting, the camera shots, the ending was unexpected as well. Well done!

[thedreamisreal]

What a lovely and homey painting above the dining table- a hand holding a skull

[poornashivananjaiah]

1:57 he reminds her of her allergies when she asks him what allergies he's talking about is when he remembers to incorporate that feature in his new model to upgrade it to make it more realistic to his ex-wife.

[nomada]

When he's not interested in doing things with you, it's time for you to go travel the world alone and have fun 🌸 by the time you sing the divorce papers you will say you’re not losing anything, on the contrary 🙏

[LordKohaegan]

It was obvious from the beginning when she cut her finger and her blood was black instead of red and then all the secretly about working in the basement. I saw that ending coming a mile away. Still was okay though.