The film follows the story of a family in lockdown experiencing a troubling pattern of domestic abuse. Told from the separate perspectives of two partners, the film uses the same set of words to tell two very different stories of isolation: one of a man, trapped in negative ways of thinking, with complicated emotions he never really learned to articulate; and a woman who is trapped inside her home with a man who is becoming increasingly volatile and unrecognizable to her.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, Canada became one of the most locked-down countries in the world. This gave rise to another alarming problem: violent men were now stuck at home, and their families were trapped with them. Calls to police about domestic disputes increased by 8.2%, while calls to women’s helplines soared almost 400%. We created this short film to speak directly to men who are using (or at-risk of using) gender-based violence as a response to the stresses of COVID-19 lockdowns.

The film was shot over two days in one house but was meant to feel like many months in lockdown. Isolation is a key theme and was expressed in two distinct ways: first from the man’s point of view and then from his family’s. We used soft focus to aid in this respect—in his story, only he is in focus and vice versa.

Almost every scene was shot indoors to make the viewer feel as though they were confined at home with our characters. Violence was never overtly depicted, just implied, which, when left to the imagination, is even more unsettling.

We favoured naturalism and subtlety in the actors’ performances because it was important to reinforce that this is something that is happening every day—which is ultimately the problem that we’re trying to address and bring awareness to.