Plaisir (2021)

While it might be a stretch to say that the plight of the protagonist in the short film Plaisir (2021) is completely relatable, it's at least premised in a truth that's all too painfully real to most of us: unrequited love. That feeling which washes over us when we fall head over heels in love with someone, a deep and meaningful love unlike anything you've felt before, followed by the crushing realization that the other person wants nothing to do with you. Eleanore (Eleanore Pienta) is also dealing with the fact that she's an American living on a farm commune somewhere in the south France, which only compound the feelings of isolation she gets from this whole mess of unrequited love. Being a stranger in a strange land is something the bulk of us may never experience, but we can imagine how solitary that experience can seem. Eleanore may never convince this other person that she loves them, but she convinces us that she's got an amazing body when she strips off all her clothes during a ritual and does a dance—oftentimes in slow motion—that takes the film into the credits! We also get a look at Sophie Amieva topless wandering through the hedge maze and also sporting a bra during the ritual, but it's that fully nude climax and denouement from Eleanore Pienta that's going to have us coming (back) again and again! This may be a short film, it's running time will certainly attest to that, but it's long on pleasure and enjoyment!