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.

“Day after Day”

We open inside a kitchen of a home. We see a man sitting at the kitchen table, looking somewhat distraught and lost in his thoughts.

This is the man’s story. We see life inside his home from his perspective. We use shallow depth of field and muddled sound design, so the viewer feels like they’re inside his head.

We see him next in his home office. He’s just finished a video call for work that didn’t go well, and he’s clearly frustrated. We see his wife in soft focus, standing in the foreground. We hear the man in voiceover.

MAN: Just for a moment…

… imagine you are trapped.

We see him sometime later, approaching the living room. His wife and son are there already. It’s her birthday, and she’s celebrating with relatives on a video call. The noise and clamour are too much for him. He watches from a distance before suddenly leaving the room.

MAN: Day after day.

Nighttime. We see him sitting in bed, staring at the wall. It’s clear from his expression that he’s emotionally conflicted. He rolls over to his wife, but she’s already asleep.

MAN: No way out, no release.

No words.

Another time, we see him in the hallway, playing with his son. They’re having fun together and he’s a loving dad.

In the kitchen, he approaches his wife from behind and wraps his arms around her, laying his head on her shoulder. He’s looking for comfort.

MAN: Day after day.

Just a growing sense of worthlessness.

We see him in his son’s bedroom, playing with him once again and having fun.

Nighttime. We see him step out onto the front porch. He’s glaring at something in a menacing way, but we don’t know at what.

MAN: An all-consuming shame.

A rising fear.

We transition to the woman’s story. We now see things from her point of view, without the shallow depth of field and sound design.

We revisit all the moments we’ve just gone through, but from her perspective.

We see him at the kitchen table, looking distraught. He bolts from the table, revealing her at the table as well. She was trying to talk to him, to reach him, but to no avail.

We see them in the bedroom, having a heated argument about their son.

Another time, we see her standing in the doorway of the home office. She’s come to see if he’s okay, but he dismisses her and bolts past her. We now hear her in voiceover.

WOMAN: Just for a moment…

We see her in the bathroom, looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

WOMAN: … imagine you are trapped.

In the dining room, we see her on a video call with family and friends to celebrate her birthday. She’s having a great time. She turns in time to see him slamming a door behind him. It scares her. She tries her best to maintain a happy, smiling demeanor and hide her fear from her family.

We see them again in the bedroom, fighting. He’s more intense and intimidating now, pointing his finger in her face and shouting.

Nighttime. She’s in bed. When he rolls toward her and lays a hand on her shoulder, she pretends she’s asleep, even though her eyes are open. She feels alone.

WOMAN: Day after day.

No way out.

When she hears a vase break, she runs upstairs to see what happened. When she gets there, she sees her husband in a fit. He’s irate because their son broke a vase. He’s shouting, and his son backs away, intimidated by him.

In the kitchen, he rests his head on her shoulder, but she looks away. She’s deeply uncomfortable with him touching her.

WOMAN: No release.

No words.

We see the boy in his bedroom, looking sad, as we hear his parents fighting in the next room.

We cut to inside the bedroom and the argument is quite heated. She’s crying, and he’s overwhelming her with force, prying her arms apart so she can’t hide her face from him.

We see her sometime later, looking out a window as the rain gently falls, feeling completely alone.

WOMAN: Day after day.

We see her next tip toeing into her son’s room. She gently wakes him and grabs a small backpack from under the bed.

This is the moment she has thought about incessantly, day after day, the moment she has planned down to every detail while lying awake at night. She’s leaving him.

WOMAN: Just a growing sense of worthlessness.

An all-consuming shame.

She knows she’s in danger at this moment. She knows that she’ll be in danger even if she manages to get away. But she’s desperate to try something, anything.

We see mother and son downstairs, ever so quietly slipping out the front door.

We see her outside the home, moving with urgency as she loads her son and their things into the car.

WOMAN: A rising fear.

It’s at that moment that she sees him, glaring at her from the front porch. He’s caught her. And in this moment, she knows she can’t leave. If she does, it will almost certainly be worse for her than it already is.

WOMAN: Day after day…

… after day.

Mother and son walk back to the front door. Inside the home, he’s waiting for them.

SUPER: If a man can’t escape his anger,

neither will his family.

SUPER: We call on men and boys to reject

gender-based violence and commit to change.

LOGO: White Ribbon

SUPER: www.whiteribbon.ca