Cucurbitaceae

A city pulses like a living organism—cars stalled, people swarming like larvae on decaying fruit. Hum, distant sirens, low percussive beats fill the air. Séraphine wakes in a vast, empty bed. She clings to the sheets, which collapse beneath her, leaving her tiny in a fabric ocean. Morning becomes ritual: coffee, grapefruit, delicate gestures. She melts into her cup, warms her skin, and drifts like smoke as sunlight scatters through translucent gels. In the supermarket, every fruit and vegetable teems with sensation. She presses, smells, and traces their textures, imagining herself as cucumber, yogurt, or maki. The aisles twist into a kaleidoscopic playground, colors and shapes swirling in chaotic intimacy. Back on the bus, her body solid again, she smiles at a passenger; playful cucumbers peek from her bag. From above, the city stretches endlessly, alive with color, chaotic yet intimate, fragile yet vivid.

Director’s statement
In my project, emerging from lockdown, I translated my longing for human contact into exuberant, joyful visuals—makis, wild music, and playful movement—masking a deeper solitude. The story oscillates between intimate, introspective moments and baroque fantasies, where exaggerated body movements, elastic objects, and tactile, olfactory, and gustatory sensations heighten micro-emotions: the warmth of a cup, a sunbeam, a touch, a bite of fruit. Minimalist, open-frame visuals echo introspection, while public spaces—the crowded bus, the supermarket—paradoxically intensify reflection. Sound design and music amplify sensuality and absurdity: dripping, gurgling, squeaky textures, playful loops, and crescendos echo the chaotic inner life. Colors are soft, pastel liquid, overflowing their outlines. Everyday ordinariness, humor, and subtle melancholy intertwine with whimsical, sensorial fantasies, creating a narrative of desire, longing, and corporeal delight.