REVIEW: ‘This Closeness’ Forces You To Listen

This Closeness is a one-set film written and directed by its star, Kit Zauhar, about a couple, Tessa (Kit Zauhar) and Ben (Zane Pais) having an uncomfortable home rental experience. The pair are in town for Ben’s high school reunion, but it’s evident from the start that their relationship is not particularly strong or healthy. Neither are strong individuals, either. And to make it worse, their incredibly awkward host, Adam (Ian Edlund), keeps popping in and out of his room.

This Closeness fits squarely into the “couples who should not be together” sub-genre of movies. But unlike so many movies with unbearable relationships, Zauhar’s film is well aware that Tessa and Ben have a lot of issues they need to work through together and on their own. They spend more of the movie fighting than anything else. So much of what comes out of both of their mouths is either mean, immature, or just asinine. This is annoying at first, but by the time This Closeness hits its flow, it becomes a great asset.

Ben is insufferable. He’s so rude to Tessa, deeply inconsiderate of her feelings, and constantly either talking down to her or talking for her. He’s easy to hate, and deservedly so. He’s also so mean about Adam for no good reason. But Tessa isn’t much better. She isn’t completely forthright with her feelings about Ben and his behavior and channels a lot of that toward Ben’s childhood friend, Lizzy (Jessie Pinnick), who has her own shortcomings but certainly doesn’t deserve the crossfire. And when Tessa does let loose on Ben himself, it’s often either petty or incomplete, leaving so much of their baggage left unclaimed.

There’s a lot to chew on throughout this physically tight movie. It can be tough to endure. The pacing of the dialogue is natural, with awkward and lengthy pauses between each line. It’s unclear whether those are issues of acting or editing, but either way, it results in an uncanny, almost student film feeling throughout the experience. Nonetheless, there are also some excellent moments of performance, especially by Zauhar. During several highly emotional and volatile scenes, she brings a level of energy to the screen that pulls the entire point of the movie together in an instant.

This Closeness is about many things and has many morals. Among its most fascinating and well-constructed is its exploration of common courtesy. Ben and Tessa are renting a room in somebody’s home while he is living there. But they’re horribly mean to Adam and entirely disrespectful of the fact that he can hear every argument and whatever else they choose to do in their bedroom at high decibels. Every once in a while, the movie will shift its vantage point to Adam’s, letting the audience see and hear things from his perspective.

The movie does a great job altogether exploring loneliness, especially through Tessa’s struggle with it whilst trapped in an unhealthy relationship. But her loneliness is almost self-imposed. She knows she could leave him and be happier. Adam’s loneliness is other people’s fault. His roommate moved away. His house guests are incredibly rude.

He goes out and has a friend over throughout the movie, but every time he’s alone and forced to listen to everything going on with Tessa and Ben, he’s reminded of just how unwanted other people constantly make him feel. It’s an excellent filmmaking tactic to keep returning to his perspective to remind the viewer that whether you’re on Tessa or Ben’s side of their relationship spat, they’re both in the wrong.

There’s a lot to love in This Closeness’ sound design. The effect of hearing things through the walls does wonders. Especially as the film dabbles with eroticism to build and cut tension, the sound and cinematography amplify those experiences immensely. But there is one sequence that employs a completely novel audio trick that begs you to rewind and listen again.

Tessa is an audio professional who dabbles in making ASMR videos on the side. At one point during the film, she takes out this strange-looking microphone with literal ears on either side. Just as you’re ready to judge her for her odd hobby, she uses the device, and the movie’s audio switches to what it sounds like wearing headphones attached to this device. The sound pans across the left and right speakers and puts you almost fully into the sensation the characters are having on screen. It’s a genius trick of sound editing.

This Closeness describes itself as a power struggle between its characters for dominance in their tense, awkward, and unbecoming situations. While it’s engaging to watch that battle play out, it’s the underlying reasons for the struggle and its results that make This Closeness so captivating. The unlikable characters and uncanny pacing of the dialogue wouldn’t work if every scene didn’t make you think hard about its consequences. Plus, a little eroticism sure doesn’t hurt when it comes to building and breaking tension.

This Closeness is playing now in select theaters and streaming on Mubi July 3rd.